Reports

Death of Egyptian doctor ignites police and political battle

On Saturday Egyptian police fired tear gas at dozens of people in a village in the Nile Delta for refusing to bury a female doctor who died of coronavirus in the village cemetery for fear that the virus would spread among them. A security source said that a 65-year-old retired doctor died after being infected with the virus, which was transmitted to her from her daughter who had returned from Scotland. The body was transferred for burial in her husband’s family burial site in Shubra Al-Baho, his hometown in Dakahlia Governorate, about 130 kilometres north of Cairo.

The source added that the people of this village gathered and refused to allow the body in, which was transported in a sterilised ambulance. According to the same source, the ambulance moved to the village of Mait Al-Amil, the birthplace of the deceased woman, but again people gathered and refused that she be buried among the tombs of her family for fear of infection.

The ambulance returned to the village of Shubra El-Baho, where the police fired tear gas to disperse the gathering residents, and the ambulance team was able to bury the body, according to the security source. But the battle over the doctor’s burial was not only a police battle, it also turned into a political battle.

The Egyptian Ministry of Interior accused the Muslim Brotherhood of inciting the people of the village of Shubra El-Baho to prevent the burial of the deceased doctor. The Ministry announced the arrest of 23 people responsible for the protests, noting that legal measures had been taken against them, and they were referred to the public prosecution. Over the past few years the Egyptian regime has blamed the Brotherhood for all of the problems that have occurred in the country. Opponents considered that the Egyptian regime pursued a policy of blaming the Muslim Brotherhood to escape its own failures.

Observers say that the Egyptian regime used the channels and newspapers loyal to it, to suggest that infection with coronavirus is a stigma and a disgrace that should be avoided and hidden. Later on, the Egyptian media did not provide accurate and clear information about coronavirus and instead launched rumours and falsities which triggered a widespread wave of panic in Egypt. In response to accusations from the Ministry of Interior, opponents said that it is the Egyptian regime and the media loyal to it that caused this fear and panic. To date, 159 people have died in Egypt as a result of the emerging coronavirus, while the total number of infections has reached 2,065.

The Egyptian Doctors Syndicate said in a statement on Saturday morning that three doctors had died as a result of the emerging coronavirus and 43 doctors had contracted the virus. The union pointed out that an inventory of the number of infected doctors is “ongoing.” Egyptian doctors find themselves in Egypt in a difficult place, between the coronavirus on the one hand, the lack of medical supplies on the other. On top of all of this is popular fear over the virus. On Wednesday, the Egyptian government extended a two-week curfew in the country from eight in the evening until six in the morning, Cairo time.