Archive photo of doctors demonstrating at the medical syndicate (Photo: Mai Shaheen)
The Egyptian Doctors' Syndicate has called on presidential candidates to visit its headquarters for talks concerning the problems doctors currently face.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the syndicate also said it was hoping to learn of each candidate's plans regarding how they would solve these issues in the health sector.
Doctors and other health professionals who work in government-run hospitals have been holding a partial open-ended strike since 9 March.
Their demands include an increase in government spending on healthcare and also a raise in basic salaries – in opposition to a presidential decree issued in February which increased monthly bonuses for doctors but not their basic pay.
The doctors also call for the implementation of the financial and administrative changes approved in May 2012 by the general assembly of the Doctors' Syndicate, which included reform of pay scales and promotions.
Egyptian doctors have taken part in a number of partial strikes since the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt's 2014 presidential elections are due to take place on 26 and 27 May, with the coming president scheduled to be elected by 26 June at the latest.
So far only three potential candidates have announced their intentions to run: former defence minister Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, founder of the Popular Egyptian Current Hamdeen Sabahi and former lawyer Mortada Mansour.
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