Financial problems were not the greatest concern for a doctor who recently graduated and began his career with a so-called ‘assignment’ and a salary of no more than US $41 per month. His real challenge was not having patients for two years and nearly forgetting all that he had studied.
Financial problems were not the greatest concern for a doctor who recently graduated and began his career with a so-called ‘assignment’ and a salary of no more than US $41 per month. His real challenge was not having patients for two years and nearly forgetting all that he had studied.
Haitham Essam Eid was born in the village of Kom El Nour, in the city of Mit Ghamr in Dakahlia Governorate. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University with honors. He was hired by the Zagazig University Hospital as a ‘substitute’ doctor, but only after a careeer journey that he describes as a waste of public money and effort, which kills many of the aspirations of an Egyptian doctor.
Apart from Saturdays, he had the whole week off, he remembers. People preferred doctors to the health unit due to non-existent capacities, except on Saturday, which was called the ‘day of overcrowding’ since free medicines arrived. On Saturdays, hundreds of villagers, even healthy ones, came to the unit, demanding medicine.
Why did you give them medicine even though they were healthy?
Because they were poor and their families had chronic diseases, and others take analgesics and antibiotics that might be needed someday. By the end of the day, the pharmacy ran out of medicine and I stayed alone for a whole week. I did nothing but drink tea, thinking of the military service and searching for an agent to help me reduce it from three years to only one, and I really succeeded in the end.
Are central hospitals better than health units?
Not much, but central hospitals are subject to inspection tours and receive a slightly larger budget. However, most doctors in the Central Hospital are under training, while the rest often don’t come since they have private clinics, because their salary is low and doesn’t ensure a respectable life for them or fulfill their families’ needs. I believe these hospitals are working at an efficiency of only 30%.
Do you think that the current health system since the revolution differs from that under Mubarak?
Yes! The health sector budget used to amount to 5% of the general budget, but the government has agreed to raise it starting from July 2013, and also to raise doctors’ wages in response to their recent sit-in.
Are there public hospitals that actually ensure citizens’ right to treatment?
Patients get good therapy only in university hospitals, but they suffer from over-crowding due to a lack of beds, even in the reception and ICU, which may cause a doctor to treat patients in the hallways; some die due to lack of good equipment.
Has this ever happened to you?
Last week, we had a patient suffering from severe hematemesis (vomiting of blood) due to cirrhosis (consequence of chronic liver disease). It is easy to treat within the ICU through blood compensating with good follow-up, but the person died due to a lack of beds in the ICU. I tried to save him with some solutions in a corridor, but it was not enough.
How many patients enter the Zagazig University Hospital every day?
One thousand five hundred patients and most of those are inpatients, because there are only four doctors with two shifts throughout the day, which makes doctors greatly exhausted due to extreme pressure.
Do the patients’ families understand the pressure you are under?
No! Many patients’ families attack doctors, especially since the revolution. Many colleagues have had different injuries, and someone tried to kill a doctor at the public hospital in Minya El-Kamh, when a patient died due to a diabetes attack.
