Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has hailed doctors as “angels of mercy” and praised their efforts “to save people from the repercussions of diseases and viruses.”

The president’s comments were delivered by presidential advisor for health affairs Mohamed Awad Tag El-Din during a celebration of the 43rd Egyptian Doctors Day, which was held at the General Syndicate of Doctors on Thursday.

El-Sisi praised doctors' distinguished performance in facing the coronavirus, saying their work has contributed to limiting infections, controlling the repercussions of the virus and saving lives.

Egyptian Doctors Day is celebrated on 18 March, the anniversary of the opening of the first medical school in Egypt and the Middle East in Abu Zaabal in 1827.

The president said that Egyptian doctors have “contributed to the elimination of many dangerous and chronic diseases and viruses such as malaria and polio, and have worked on the implementation of presidential health initiatives and the elimination of waiting lists.”

The president’s speech highlighted “the role of Egyptian doctors in all the circumstances that the country has gone through.”

The president praised doctors’ efficiency and professionalism, their keenness to transfer experience from one generation to the next, and their efforts in localising modern technologies.

President El-Sisi also highlighted doctors’ contributions at home and abroad, saying that people worldwide can testify to their good performance and dedication.

“We celebrate Doctors Day and extend our greetings to doctors, appreciating their duty to the homeland and the medical profession, with high merit and high performance. I wish them success,” the speech concluded.

In response, head of the Doctors Syndicate Hussein Khairy thanked the president for sponsoring Doctors Day.

Khairy praised the efforts of medical teams in facing the coronavirus, comparing their fight against the pandemic as a “state of war.”

He also said that more than 400 doctors have died from the coronavirus.

Khairy pointed out that the appreciation for doctors “warms their hearts”; however, he stressed that doctors also require material compensation to meet their needs and those of their families.

The Doctors Syndicate has requested that doctors who lose their lives to coronavirus be included in the law honouring those killed and injured in war, which would entail significantly higher benefits.

Khairy also stressed the need to protect medical staff in hospitals from assaults to which they are often subjected.

The celebration was attended by Health Minister Hala Zayed, chairman of parliaments’ health committee Ashraf Hatem, chairman of the Senate health committee Mohamed El-Gazzar, former health minister Adel Adawy, and secretary-general of university hospitals Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar.