The former Zamalek striker and current TV anchor posted on 14 July a video on his official Instagram account criticising the health sector in Egypt claiming the absence of doctors during Eid El-Adha holiday as he was with a relative seeking medical care.
“Based on my personal experience, the medical sector in Egypt malfunctions and is a failure. Most of its doctors, with all due respect, have no conscience,” Mido said during the video, which is now seen by more than two hundred thousand viewers.
In the 6-minute video, Mido alleged that his father-in-law, who is a cancer patient, had a heart problem and a lung stroke. He added that they “were unable to find any medical treatment even after visiting multiple hospitals”.
On 17 July, in a phone-in with prominent TV presenter Amr Adib, Mido further clarified that one of the private hospitals his family visited was Dar El-Fouad hospital in Nasr City and that the staff said that there were no senior doctors available.
He also claimed that he was later informed that senior doctors, even those who were on call, directed the juniors not to call them because they were on Eid vacation.
In return, the EMS filed two complaints to the Egyptian General Prosecutor.
In a complaint that was submitted on 17 July, the EMS accused "a former football player" of slandering the Egyptian doctors and spreading false news.
During the call with Adib, Mido said that he believes that not mentioning his name in the EMS statement to the media was "an attempt to demean football players”.
In response, the EMS board member Ahmed Hussein refuted the claim in a parallel phone-in with Adib, saying that the syndicate will never state the name of someone who insulted most of the doctors in Egypt.
However, Mido admitted that some of his remarks were uncalled for but stressed the need to have a better medical system in Egypt.
“I made a generalisation and I admit that it was wrong, I apologise to every doctor who was affected by what I said,” the former Tottenham striker said.
During Adib’s show on MBC Misr, Hussein stated that the monthly salary of a football player nearly equals 300 doctors in Egypt.
Hussein said that as of today, almost 11 doctors are quitting their public work per day with around 150 thousand doctors living abroad.
The following day, both sides further escalated the situation through a new complaint and another video.
The EMS filed its second complaint on 18 July accusing Mido of defaming Egypt’s reputation along with its medical institutions and negatively impacting medical tourism in the country.
On the same day, Mido posted another video on his Instagram account welcoming any legal battles that are coming his way.
“This is a new battle in my life… maybe the most honorable battle of my life. The fact that the syndicate has moved with such speed means that I at least got them to move… I greet battles if they are for the benefit of Egypt,” he said in a 10-minute video.
“The day I’ll head to the General Prosecutor’s office, I’ll go with thousands of procurations from Egyptian citizens who have been badly affected by negligence in the medical sector, especially during holiday periods,” Mido said.
Though he confirmed during the video that he did not receive official notification for the complaints, he expressed confidence that he will eventually get out of this battle victorious.
Recently, the healthcare sector has been witnessing a major exodus.
From 2019 through March 2022, more than 11.5 thousand doctors have resigned from the Egyptian public health sector, the EMS said in a report issued in April 2022.
According to the same report, the average salary of a resident doctor reaches EGP 3,700, whereas the pension of a public sector doctor after 35 years is estimated at EGP 2,300. The report also added that doctors working in the Universal Health Insurance System applied recently in some governorates, receive an average monthly salary of EGP 17,000.
Earlier this year the EMS praised President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s order to increase the monthly allowances given to medical professionals by 75 percent at a total cost of EGP 2.25 billion, as part of government efforts to support members of the healthcare sector amid the coronavirus crisis.
In its new budget for fiscal year (FY) 2022/23, Egypt has allocated EGP 5 billion to appoint 80,000 teachers, doctors, and pharmacists.
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