Amnesty International (AI) has called on the authorities in Egypt to stop harassing and intimidating healthcare workers who are raising concerns about the health system in Egypt amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

AI made the call after six doctors and two pharmacists were arrested, and medics transferred to quarantine hospitals for speaking out. The medics had denounced unsafe working conditions, shortages of personal protective equipment, insufficient infection control training, limited testing of healthcare workers, and lack of access to vital healthcare.

AI said that the Egyptian authorities had been using terrorism and spreading false news charges to arrest healthcare workers who have spoken out over safety concerns during the country’s Covid-19 crisis.

Sources from the Doctors Syndicate told AI that healthcare workers who speak out have been transferred to isolation centres, where patients who have contracted the virus are quarantined, or to hospitals in other governorates. This is especially concerning for doctors with pre-existing medical conditions or older doctors who are at greater risk.

It was also noted that the Doctors Syndicate had recorded the deaths of at least 68 frontline healthcare workers from Covid-19, with more than 400 testing positive for the virus since mid-February.

‘The Egyptian authorities are handling the Covid-19 crisis with their usual repressive tactics. Healthcare workers have to make an impossible choice: risk their lives or face prison if they dare to speak out. Amnesty is calling on the Egyptian authorities to put an immediate end to their campaign of harassment and intimidation against healthcare workers who are speaking out’, AI’s Middle East Research and Advocacy Director, Philip Luther, said.

Source: Amnesty International UK

Photo source: Al Jazeera English