Cairo- A crisis between the government and parliament on the one hand, and the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate on the other hand, was postponed after the emergency general assembly of doctors was postponed for a month, following initial agreement within a parliamentary committee on changes to the draft medical liability law, the most important of which is the deletion of an article allowing pretrial detention of doctors for medical errors, but Doctors still have major demands as a condition for accepting the law.
There are no official statistics on the number of medical errors in Egypt, but according to unofficial statistics, the number is estimated at 180,000 cases annually, while about 20 doctors are removed from the union annually because of these errors.
The number of Egyptian doctors, according to the latest official statistics, is about 121 thousand doctors, while the number of patients treated at state expense abroad and at home reached approximately 3 million patients.
Government praise
For his part, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly reassured everyone, stressing that the law contains several advantages and greater protection for doctors, especially after amending the controversial point related to responsibility in the event of a serious error by a doctor, stressing that the observations will be absorbed during the coming period.
One of the most important advantages of the draft law, according to the Minister of Parliamentary, Legal and Political Affairs, Mahmoud Fawzi, in his statement before the Egyptian Senate, is that:
- It distinguishes between medical error and known medical complications, and does not consider it a medical error, but rather excludes the doctor’s responsibility, in addition to enhancing trust between the doctor and the patient.
- Protecting medical staff and facilities from any attacks that may occur to them.
- Leave the task of holding doctors accountable to themselves through the Supreme Committee.
The Minister of Health, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, explained in an official statement that there are details in the draft law that were not present before, and some of them led to confusion between complications, medical errors, and serious errors, which required clarification.
Demands of the Doctors Syndicate
On the trade union side, Abu Bakr Al-Qadi, treasurer of the Egyptian Doctors Syndicate, confirms that postponing the General Assembly until the third of next February came in response to some union demands in the House of Representatives, and to obtain announced promises to issue a fair and just law for the doctor and the patient, considering that the General Assembly is a means It is not an end in itself.
The judge added in his speech to Al Jazeera Net that he appreciates all the controversy and anger raised in the Syndicate Council and the General Assembly, but he sees the importance of turning it into a collective effort to continue presenting the doctors’ point of view in the law, stressing that the decision to convene the General Assembly exists if a solution is not possible, while he stressed the Syndicate’s keenness. On the right of the doctor and the patient together.
The Syndicate Council held a meeting last Sunday (January 5th), with the captains and secretaries of the sub-unions in the governorates of Egypt, headed by the head of the Doctors Syndicate, Osama Abdel-Hay, in which he confirmed that postponing the General Assembly was necessary out of concern for the interest and safety of the doctors, as he put it. In an official statement.
The attendees agreed on 4 main demands for accepting the law:
- It is necessary to redefine the serious medical error that requires criminal punishment, in a clear and unambiguous manner.
- Limiting the penalty for professional errors that occur to patients to compensate for the damage.
- It is necessary to refer all complaints of medical damages to the Supreme Committee for Medical Liability before starting an investigation into them.
- The Fund must pay the necessary compensation to the affected person, and not contribute to it only in order to preserve the patient’s rights.
Parallel union campaign
In a parallel track, more than 600 doctors submitted collective complaints, during the last days of the President of the Republic, to stop the passage of the law, until it is amended, including Mona Mina, a former member of the Medical Syndicate Council.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Mina denounces the postponement of the General Assembly, stressing that the more the voice of the doctors is united and their collective efforts, the more the final result will be positive.
The prominent union sees the importance of having a clear text in the law prohibiting pretrial detention so that doctors are not imprisoned under the Penal Code, and not just deleting the article, denouncing the continued consideration of the committee’s opinion as not the only technical opinion to which the investigative authorities refer.
Mina criticizes the broad definitions of serious medical error, noting that the draft law defines it as “harm arising from negligence, recklessness, or lack of caution,” without a specific definition for it, as well as leaving out a text “without prejudice to any more severe penalty stipulated in any law.” Another” in Article 23, which it considers an open door to imprisonment under the Penal Code.
Patient rights
Jurist Mahmoud Fouad, executive director of the Egyptian Center for the Protection of the Right to Medicine, told Al Jazeera Net, “The first discussions about the law began in 2005, with the increasing number of cases related to medical errors. I even stayed in my capacity as director of a human rights center in a case involving a patient who had been exposed to a medical error.” 5 Exactly 7 years and 7 months, so that we can know exactly who is responsible for the accidental amputation of his foot. Was the lack of government hospital equipment the reason, as the doctors said, or did the doctor make a mistake?
Fouad adds that, as director of a human rights center concerned with patients’ rights, he defends them under the current law, and submitted an official memorandum on this to the House of Representatives, but he does not accept the pretrial detention of doctors on the basis of professional cases and turning them into criminals.
He explains that the latest version of the draft law preserves the rights of the patient, and created a different method for reporting medical errors, through a higher medical committee, headed by a consultant, and membership of doctors, to review the complaint and determine its consequences.
Fouad regrets that there are no official statistics on medical errors, either by the government or by the Medical Syndicate, pointing out that the tradition inherited in society in cases of medical errors is to detain the doctor on precaution after summoning him to absorb the anger of the patient’s family, and then release him to reach an agreement with the patient’s family.
Parliamentary promises
The Egyptian Senate approved the draft law presented by the government, on December 24, without regard to the demands of the Doctors Syndicate, which sparked union anger, which the Health Committee of the House of Representatives tried to contain by announcing the acceptance of some demands at the beginning of this year.
Representative Atef Magharwi, a member of the Health Committee in the House of Representatives, confirms to Al Jazeera Net his confidence in the issuance of a balanced law that preserves the rights of the patient and the doctor, with the participation of the Medical Syndicate as a constitutional partner in discussing a law related to its profession, and the representatives’ defense of the voice of the sick citizen, expecting that the draft law will be discussed soon. In the plenary session of Parliament, any other amendments to it will be heard before being approved.
Representative Mahmoud Sami, a member of the Senate, reveals to Al Jazeera Net that he proposed during the Senate discussions not to delete the article on imprisoning doctors while tightening its controls, such as stipulating intentionality or committing a criminal offense, for fear of the possibility of prosecuting doctors in accordance with the Penal Code.
It is expected that the draft law will still contain some controversial articles, and will not receive full satisfaction as usual with any law issued, stressing that despite the government’s concessions on some of its articles, there are articles that will remain unused, such as the continued authority of the Public Prosecution to address complaints, as a constitutional right, and so on. This will result in imprisonment if the prosecutor makes a decision different from the opinion of the Supreme Committee.