Doctors need the proper resources to be able to treat their patients. But a new viral Facebook page started in Egypt illustrates that doctors and dentists in that country don’t necessarily have access to what they need. The page is shocking to many, as photos of multiple hospitals in Cairo, Egypt have been shared illustrating that they are unequipped and unsanitary for doctors to properly operate in.

On Saturday Egypt’s Prime Minister, Ibrahim Mahlab, surprised the National Heart Institute in Cairo with a visit. He was accompanied by TV cameras that showed him shouting at one hospital employee as he began to walk through the facility. Mahlab was truly surprised at the facility’s lack of medical equipment and the mistreatment of patients and ordered some of the facility’s top officials to be fired.

Egyptian doctors felt degraded and wrongly blamed for the poor state of health services and took  to social media to show people the true conditions in which they have to work. A Facebook page–the title translates in English to “So He is Not Surprised if He Comes”–was created. There are pictures of several of Egypt’s hospitals with snakes, cats, and rats roaming around inside and even on patients’ beds. The pictures also show patients lying on the floor for treatments, filthy bathrooms, broken equipment, and overcrowded rooms. Moreover, the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) has stated that only 33 beds are available for every 10,000 citizens in Cairo’s hospitals. The page reached over 100,000 likes within just a few hours and quickly went viral.

Can’t get over how depressed i feel from the moment i saw those photos of hospitals in Egypt ! God please take me away from all this mess !

— Lobna Ehab (@lobna_ehabb) June 9, 2015

 

Poor conditions of #Egypt‘s hospitals highlighted by humiliated health employees http://t.co/X2U0ZXHWsj pic.twitter.com/HD3xcgEmSE

— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) June 10, 2015

#Egypt hospitals pushed FB users to launch a campaign pointing out the severe neglection at government hospitals. pic.twitter.com/59X55OaSj1

— MMisrNetwork English (@MMisrNetwork_En) June 10, 2015

Following the Prime Minister’s visit, the military announced it would work to renovate the Heart Institute’s clinics, reception areas, and emergency rooms. Doctors in Egypt have held several strikes within the past few years demanding an increase in the state budget devoted to healthcare, but this request has been frequently ignored. Groups such as the Nursing Rebel Movement advocate for change in this regard; one of their members explained his frustrations with the current system:

There is total negligence to nursing centres in provinces, and whenever we voice our concerns to the syndicate, they suggest for us to join the syndicate instead of identifying a clear plan to solve the problem [from] its roots.

The Egyptian government is reportedly negotiating with the World Bank to receive a new loan of $300 million to support healthcare in government hospitals. This money would go toward things like new medical supplies.

Seeing the conditions of these hospitals were truly disturbing. How can people get treatments for their illnesses when they are surrounded by stray animals and filth? Egyptian doctors are trying to raise awareness and get help to improve healthcare and the circumstances in which they are being forced to work. Hopefully these pictures will lead to serious changes for the hospitals.

Taelor Bentley

Taelor is a member of the Hampton University Class of 2017 and was a Law Street Media Fellow for the Summer of 2015. Contact Taelor at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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