29 March 2023 The first meeting of the committee to study improving the conditions of doctors
Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Health and Population, chaired the first meeting of the Committee to Study the Improvement of Doctors’ Conditions, which was formed by Resolution 116 of 2023, with the aim of sharing and exchanging visions, to come up with recommendations to improve the health work environment from the “technical, administrative, social, and financial” aspects to ensure the preservation of rights of all doctors.
At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar stressed the importance of this committee, which represents experts and those concerned with the conditions of doctors, to discuss ways and means to improve the conditions of Egyptian doctors. Nursing, physiotherapists »as an essential component of the health system, in addition to the administrative staff working in the health sector.
Dr. Hossam Abdel Ghaffar, the official spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Population, and a spokesperson for the committee, indicated that the meeting aimed to discuss the most important challenges facing doctors, foremost of which is improving the financial situation, in addition to reviewing a set of incentive packages, which were approved by the President of the Republic Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and they include increasing Allowance for risks for medical professions, doubling emergency incentives, as well as doubling allowances for shifts and overnight stays.
Abdel Ghaffar noted that the representatives of the Medical Syndicate’s youth spoke about the challenges that commissioned doctors might face, including the lack of administrative experience, and the lack of adequate training in basic care units before receiving the assignment, which was assigned by the Minister to Dr. Hussein Khaled, Chairman of the Medical Sector Committee of the Supreme Council. For universities, so that the training periods for intern doctors include spending appropriate periods of training in basic care units. He also assigned Dr. Ola Khairallah, head of the research and training sector in the ministry, to coordinate and participate with the concerned authorities, and launch an electronic application that includes all the answers and inquiries needed by the assigned doctors, and publish it. Through the electronic platform of the Ministry of Health and Population, and the website of the Princess Fatima Academy, to facilitate doctors' access to their answers, he also directed training courses to explain and clarify administrative concepts at the beginning of the assignment period or before receiving it.
Abdul Ghaffar added that the meeting discussed the problems related to the irregular payment of postgraduate studies dues to universities, where the minister directed, to confirm the re-activation of the ministerial decision to bear the Ministry of Health and Population, all tuition fees for the “master’s, doctorate” for doctors nominated by the ministry. In light of the official letters issued by the Ministry of Health to the various universities, with an emphasis on finding a mechanism to pay the expenses in the universities directly without the need for the intervention of a graduate doctor.
Abdel Ghaffar added that the meeting included a discussion of the medical liability law, where the members of the committee agreed on the importance of the law, and the need to deal urgently with all legal and constitutional observations related to the law, and to coordinate with all concerned parties to reach disciplined legal formulations that achieve the goals of the law, in securing the rights of the team. health, and the rights of patients, without being challenged for unconstitutionality.
The meeting was attended by Dr. Ashraf Hatem, former Minister of Health and Chairman of the Health Committee in the House of Representatives, Dr. Ali Mahran, Chairman of the Health Committee in the Senate, Dr. Hussein Khaled, former Minister of Higher Education and Chairman of the Medical Sector Committee of the Supreme Council of Universities, prof. Mohamed Lotayef, Executive president of the Egyptian Health Council, and Dr. Hussein Khairy, Head of the Doctors Syndicate and Major General Wael Al-Saei, Assistant Minister of Health for Financial and Administrative Affairs, Counselor Ahmed Hefny, Legal Advisor to the Minister of Health and Population, Dr. Ola Khairallah, Head of the Research and Training Sector at the Ministry, and a number of members of the Doctors Syndicate Council.
