Medical staff and students began a mass protest, marching from Kasr El Aini teaching hospital to Tahrir square where they joined the protesters, who have been camping in the square since January 25.

About 5000 protesters walked from the Kasr El Aini Hospital to Tahrir square chanting “the people want the president to leave.”

“They want all the demands that the rest of the nation wanted, but they are also furious because whenever protesters come into the hospital, they fabricate the cause of death on the certificate, refusing to say the real cause of death,” says Aida Seif El Dawla, a psychiatrist and renowned human rights activist.

Kasr El Aini is Cairo’s largest hospital and many injured and deceased protesters have been taken there over the course of the revolt due to its close proximity to Tahrir Square.

Soha Mohammed, a resident physician at the hospital, said the protesters' demands were first and foremost political.

"This is not about our wages, this is about holding those in power accountable and about getting our freedoms," she says.

Abdallah Kader, a student from the University of Zagazig in the Nile Delta, headed down to Cairo overnight to join the protesters.

"I wanted to join my fellow medics in Cairo, this is the centre of the revolution. We want our rights, we want those responsible for theft, corruption and crime to be tried," he says.

Today marks the 17th day of the uprising.