Preface

The labor strike launched multiple times by female nurses at Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital represents a unique model of the Egyptian working women’s resistance of the social and legal oppression they endure at the hands of both the authorities and the society. It also reflects the nurses’ insistence to express themselves despite all the threats they are subjected to. Nurses own a broad heritage in peaceful protest and the expression of legitimate demands, which began in 1948 when 1500 male and female nurses staged a strike at Al-Qasr Al-Aini Hospital.

The last scene of the series of persecution practiced against Shebin El-Kom nurses is represented in the General Organization of Teaching Hospitals and Institutes (THO)’s Personnel Affairs singing the administrative penalty No. 1419 of 2017. The decision stipulates that 99 nurses be penalized by deducting the pay of 45 days from their salary, coupled with the equivalent of one full day (on which the strike was staged), in addition to penalizing three other nurses by a five-day deduction from the salary of each of them.

The Administrative Prosecution based its decision to deduct 45 days on the Civil Service Law No. 81 of 2016 and its executive regulations, and the Presidential Decree No. 1002 of 1975 establishing the General Organization of Teaching Hospitals and Institutes (THO) and its executive regulations.

The head of the Administrative Prosecution Authority also referred 38 nursing technicians at Shebin El-Kom Hospital to a disciplinary court on Tuesday 2 May 2017; for going on a labor strike during the period from 14 April 2016 to 21 April 2016, following investigations by Shebin Al Koum Prosecution, 4th police department Administrative in case No. 721 of 2016. The disciplinary court ordered to penalize them by deducting a full month equivalent from their salary, and the ruling was challenged, but the case is still being considered before the judiciary.

Giving a quick look at the nursing profession, we can find that the establishment of the first nursing school in Egypt dates back to 1827, when Muhammad Ali Pasha assigned “Claude Bey”, a French doctor, to improve health care for Egyptian soldiers. So, Claude established a medical school in Abu Za’abal, near the soldiers’ camp. He designed and equipped the hospital according to the latest European models, and appointed 150 Europeans, mostly from France and Italy to work for it.

In 1827, Mohammed Ali Pasha agreed to establish a medical school at Abu Za’abal Hospital and appointed “Claude Bey” to direct it.

At the beginning, Claude encountered tremendous difficulty recruiting female students to the school, until girls who were recently graduated started to work for the aristocratic classes. The priority of choosing students to catch up with the school was, hence, given to the orphan girls and the daughters of the soldiers. The number of female students throughout the country at the time was amounted to 100 students, 20 of whom in Cairo, and the government were providing them all with food, clothes and housing in addition to a monthly allowance. The government continued to give due care and attention to the school until Claude Bey left Egypt forever in1858, after which the concern started to diminish.

After 1952 Revolution, the newly- then-formed authority became in no need of foreigners and expanded its establishment of the nursing schools. In 1964, the government introduced a ministerial decree No. 221 of 1964; a Diploma of General Nursing Art which grants a diploma certificate after a three-year study, preceded by six weeks of preparation. It also gives its female graduates the opportunity to join the diplomas of specialization, including Child-bearing, Massotherapy, Medical Electrology, or Health Visitor, etc.

Afterwards, the first High Institute of Nursing in Alexandria was established. In order to join it, it is required that students obtain a High School (Thanawya Amma) certificate completing the science specialization, and the duration of the study is four years. In 1970, Ministerial Decree No. 418 was issued to amend some of the provisions of the bylaws of the Higher Institute of Nursing, Alexandria University. Article (3) states that the period of study for obtaining a bachelor’s degree is four university years, followed by a one-year compulsory training course under the supervision of the Institute (known later as “Straight A’s/ Excellence” Year) referring to the last study year. And in case of the successful completion of this year, students are authorized by the Ministry of Health to legally practice the profession. Article (27) stipulates that the provisions of Article (3) of the Regulation regarding the compulsory training year for the Institute’s female graduates shall be applied immediately starting from the academic year 1970/1971.

Postgraduate studies had been introduced to the Higher Institutes of Nursing since 1969. These studies grant a Master degree in the nursing institutions in both Cairo and Alexandria. Also, the postgraduate program had been applied to obtain a doctorate degree in nursing at the Higher Institute of Nursing in Alexandria in 1976 followed by the Higher Institute of Nursing in Cairo, and the study duration was two years in all nursing specialties.

As is clear from the above, we have four categories of nurses: the first category took the diploma in three years of study, another one studied for five years; the third category completed a four-year study following the “Thanawyia Amma” certificate, and the fourth one received a master’s and doctorate degree. The number of female nurses working in the Nursing Professions Syndicate represents 87.7% of the total number of employees in this profession, which is the highest representation of women in the different labor sectors.

The number of male and female nurses enrolled in the Nursing Professions Syndicate during January 2017 amounted to 200,000, including: 110,000 (55%) working in the Ministry of Health-affiliate hospitals, 25,000 (12.5%) in the teaching hospitals, 21,000 (10.5%) in Health Insurance, 2,000 (1%) in the therapeutic institution, and 5,000 (2.5%) in educational institutions, according to the Nursing Captain General Dr. Kawthar Mahmoud.

Egypt suffers from a severe shortage of male and female nurses, whose number reaches 60,000) according to Egypt Ministry of Health and Population); as the ratio of female nurses to patients in many of the government hospitals is one nurse for every 20 patients.

At time young people suffer from unemployment, the intensive care rooms in Ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgery are closed due to lack of nursing, a real crisis al- Qasr al-Aini is facing which could lead to the suspension of some of the treatment units and patients’ deprivation of medical service.

However, the nurses’ salaries are still among the minimum wages in the government, despite the President’s decision to amend the provisions of Law No. 14 of 2014, regulating medical professions’ members working in the Ministry of Health and Population, but are not involved in the special laws or regulations Known as “Cadre”. The decree grants high nursing specialists, chemists and physicists EGP 450, and EGP 400 for nursing and healthcare technician diploma holders.

This allowance shall be disbursed on stages; EGP 120 per month with effect from the first of January 2014 for all categories, and to be raised to 65% with effect from the first of July 2014 for the respective categories, then the full amount of the allowance can be disbursed to the beneficiaries as of 1 July 2015.

Nepotism significantly contributes to the poor distribution of nursing staff. Members of the House of Representatives and senior officials intervene to change the commissioning of nurses from the teaching and university hospitals to the Ministry of Health-affiliate hospitals. As a result, the number of female nurses in some of the ministry’s health units may exceed 120, whereas only 8 would be enough in accordance with the international standards.

On their part, teaching hospitals didn’t provide anything special for the nursing staff. Nurses are paid in teaching hospital less than the amount they are paid in the Ministry of Health hospitals. Also, they have a heavier workload (working hours) in the teaching hospitals than that of the Ministry of Health ones which led them to be more exhausted, not to mention the long distance between the teaching hospitals and the place of residence of a large number of nurses. All of these factors lead female nurses flee from university hospitals to the health units and hospitals that are close to their homes.

Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital’s Nurses

Case Study

Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital is one of the hospitals associated with the General Organization of Teaching Hospitals and Institutes (THO) that is affiliated to the Ministry of Health. It was founded in 1965.

It is the largest hospital in the governorate of Menoufia. It provides all medical services and specialties, in addition to the intensive care units in all specialties, as well as neonatal intensive care units (NICU), Industrial Kidney, and Viral Hepatitis Treatment Unit.

The hospital offers medical, therapeutic and pharmaceutical services to the citizens of Menoufia governorate and the neighboring provinces. It also provides educational and training services for students.

The number of the female nurses in the hospital exceeds 500 distributed on different shifts (as estimated by one of the hospital nurses). Although the workload exceeds their capacity, nurses in this hospital earn less in salary than their counterparts in other hospitals affiliated to the Ministry of Health.

But nurses in Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital are well known for their distinctive rejection of silence and their insistence to voice their anger, through manifold complaints filed to the hospital board of directors at first, then to the Ministry of Health, and finally going on a labor strike several times since 2008 until 2016.

19 June 2008 Strike

On the 19th of June 2008, nurses in Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital went on a partial labor strike by staging a sit-in the hospital’s yard, after seeking all legal methods and addressing all state officials. The hospital board members were given a grace period to meet the nurses’ demands, which are represented in receiving equal opportunities compared to their colleagues in the Ministry of Health-affiliate hospitals and institutes, and the strike wasn’t staged unless after the grace is over. Also, it didn’t include the sections of emergency where the strike would harm patients or put their lives at risk.

On its part, the hospital board considered the strike as being a sort of “disobedience”, and immediately summoned the security forces to besiege the hospital, and some of them, in turn, attacked a number of nurses in a way to intimidate them to end the strike. Also, the hospital board started to hire a huge number of nurses to fill the shortage resulted from the strike, but the nurses refused to end the strike.

24 October 2008 Strike

On 24 October 2008, about 450 nurses at Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital went on strike that lasted for a nearly week. The striking female nurses gathered at the hospital yard to protest against the non-implementation of the demands they raise, which includes: achieving equality at work with their colleagues at the hospitals and institutes affiliated to the Ministry of Health, and this is in terms of; the disbursement of financial incentives and allowances, as well as the implementation of justice in the distribution of the economic medical treatment program’s profits, and raising the level of treatment they receive in the hospitals they work for.

In return, the hospital’s security personnel tried to prevent nurses from standing in the hospital yard and break up the strike, but they failed due to the nurses’ insistence not to end the strike until their demands are met.

As a result, the hospital’s director Dr. Ahmed Fouad held an urgent meeting in the presence of Dr. Murtaja Najm, Secretary General of the Medical Hospitals Authority and Dr. Hisham Atta, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health of Menoufia governorate, along with a large number of male and female nurses; to discuss the striking nurses’ demands so that the strike would came to an end.

The hospital’s administration, hence, ordered the closure of the emergency hospital referring all patients to the university hospital affiliated to Shebin El-Kom Faculty of Medicine, and considered the nurses’ strike as an absence from work case.

On the fifth day of the strike, the hospital’s board of directors’ chairman and the Director-General Dr. Ahmed Abu El-Rous requested to form a delegation of male and female nurses to meet with the Minister of Health or his representative in order to discuss their demands, which includes raising the financial inducements to 75% as well as the night and overnight shift allowances.

The hospital board also called on the nurses to suspend their strike until the delegation meets the minister, but the nurses refused to do so. Rather, they suggested forming a committee to meet the minister to present their demands on him and call for the immediate response to the demands. And in this case only, the nurses would end their strike and would even seek to compensate for the past period. However, in response to the nurses’ demands, the hospital administration threatened the striking nurses with dismissal from work, alluding to them that there are already 550 job termination warnings against the strikers along with the workers who showed solidarity with them, which would be followed by a final termination letter. The hospital board, accordingly, referred a number of male and female nurses to Shebin El-Kom Administrative Prosecution, which charged them with disrupting work at the one of the state’s vital facilities.

The nurses added to their demands directed to the Minister of Health a request to form a committee by the Ministry of Health and the Central Auditing Organization to examine the financial matters inside the hospital, especially things related to the economic medical treatment fund.

6 June 2010 Strike

After resorting to all possible means to present their legitimate demands that were completely ignored, female nurses launched a third strike on Thursday 6 June 2010 which lasted till Saturday 12 June 2010, so as to demand the following:

1- To receive dignified treatment from the hospital board of directors, nursing head and supervisors.

2- The disbursement of the 75% cash inducements like other workers in public hospitals

3- Increasing the back/night and overnight shifts allowances

4- Establishing clear and fair rules to the distribution of funds in connection to the Economic Medical Treatment, health insurance cases and state-funded treatment

5- The disbursement of the late Economic Treatment Fund allowance

6- The disbursement of “infection allowance” at 40%, which they are being denied despite the fact that they are subject to infection

7- The disbursement of the “extraordinary efforts” at 40% in open places and 60% in closed ones, such as (operating rooms, neonatal intensive care units, emergency units,  and Industrial Kidney), like all other units in other hospitals.

8- To be treated equally in receiving treatment like other employees in the hospital

9- To stop holding female nurses responsible for all the administrative flaws

10- To fill the shortage of nurses by reducing the number of nursing supervisors and assigning a nursing work to them

11- Protecting the nursing staff, doctors and technicians from the abuse they are subjected to by the public due to the poor security conditions.

12- The dismissal of the Nursing Head and the appointment of a more efficient one

On the first strike day, the hospital’s director Dr. Ahmed Fouad demanded from the female nurses to resume their work promising them to consider their demands. But, the nurses refused his request due to lack of trust in the hospital board given the previous experiences of strike.

The Directorate of Health in Menoufia, as a result, recruited nurses from the hospitals of Qweisna, Birka el-Sabaa and other hospitals, in return for EGP 50 a day and a meal, while providing them door-to-door transportation.

The Nursing Professions Syndicate, however, didn’t play any vital role regarding these protests; none of their members had communicated with the striking nurses or listened to their complaints. On the contrary, the Nursing Captain General, who serves as general nursing director in the Ministry of Health, had a hand in commissioning female nurses from other hospitals to fill the place of the striking nurses, a matter which helps in breaking the strike, as mentioned by some nurses.

On 12 June, 2010, the nurses received a decision from the hospital’s director, Dr. Ahmed Fouad Mounir, upon directives from the General Organization of Teaching Hospitals and Institutes (THO)’s secretary-general, to allow the striking nurses to return back to their work as of the 12th of June, while considering the past period as a regular leave to be deducted from their leave balance. The decision also reaffirms the decision No. 292 of 2010 regarding the increase of the nursing staff and doctors’ bonuses which responds to their demands- according to Mounir.

Notice

The trade unionist Sara Abdel Fattah called after the printing of the book and requested that the “June 3, 2011 strike” on page 12 of the printed book be corrected. In a telephone conversation, Sara reported that the conversation in the book, taken from “A series of introductory notes” published on Nazra for Feminist Studies’ website, on page 10 was regarding The June 6, 2010 strike, not 2011, and that Sarah’s suicide attempt to attract media attention to nurses’ rights was from the top of the Ministry of Health not the hospital administration building.

3 June 2011 Strike

On 3 June 2011, Shebin El-Kom Hospital’s nurses staged a protest demanding the disbursement of financial incentives upon a decision issued by the Ministry of Health and THO, but the decision didn’t apply on them since they are not affiliated to the ministry.

Sarah Abdelfattah led 60 of the strike’s participants to negotiate with Kawthar Mahmood, First Undersecretary of the General Union of Nursing at the Ministry of Health (at that time), with respect to the disbursement of financial incentives and bonuses. Sarah said she was surprised at what Kawthar told her as she asserted that the striking nurses have no rights at all. She also threatened to arrest Sarah since she is “the main instigator of the strike that causes harm to the hospital”, as Kawthar claimed. Shara added that once she felt the conversation with her would come to no avail, she went upstairs to the highest floor of the hospital’s building and threatened to commit a suicide; in a way to capture media attention over the nurses’ rights which had been disregarded, but the hospital’s doctors prevented her from doing so.

Although Sarah’s threat indeed attracted the attention of then-Minister of Health Hatem al-Jabali, who asked her- on 24 June 2011- to submit a list of the nurses’ demands to consider and address them, no significant progress had been made.

In protest against the Minister of Health’s disregard of the demands, the hospital’s female nurses organized, on 26 June 2011, a march from the hospital to the governorate’s headquarters walking on foot (for a distance of approximately 4-km) in an attempt to voice their demands to the governor. The security forces, in response, broke up the march and assaulted a lot of female nurses either physically or verbally.

14 April 2016 Strike

Shebin Al-Kom Hospital nurses went on a partial strike that lasted for 11 days as of 14 April 2016. The strike didn’t include, however, the intensive care units, the emergency rooms, or the neonatal units; so as to preserve the lives of patients.

According to their statement issued on Sunday, 24 April 2016, we can sum up the nurses’ demands as follows:

1- The dismissal of the Nursing Head Hanan al-Khuli, along with the deputy heads, after the majority of nurses had voted against her; and to appoint a female nurse elected from the nursing staff to head the department for two years.

2- To implement the decision of the disbursement of the emergency incentive (100%) considering that the whole hospital can be viewed as an emergency one.

3- To arrange and divide work responsibilities in a fair manner, exempt the elderly from night shifts, and change the payment of working shifts

4- To amend the regulations of the Internal Economic Fund (which gives away an amount of money every month)

5- To open the door for the appointment of new nurses, and achieve equality in the nursing field all over the country in all its decisions and benefits

6- To authorize strike days as official working days in terms of payment, since the hospital board is the one who triggered off the strike not the nursing staff.

The 14 April 2016 strike by Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital’s nurses was the latest in this hospital but it wasn’t the first; as it was preceded by many numerous strikes and protests throughout the past years.

Sarah Abdel-Fatah, a nurse working in Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital, said “I had participated in many protests to demand higher wages for nurses so that at least they are to be paid equal to nurses affiliating to the Ministry of Health” (Shebin El-Kom Hospital is indeed affiliated to the General Organization of Teaching Hospitals and Institutes (THO) which is affiliated to the Ministry of Health).

Shebin El-Kom Hospital nurses’ protests began in 2008, when nurses launched a number of protests events objecting: low wages, sanctions and arbitrary decisions or being commissioned to carry out tasks irrelevant to the nursing profession, as well as the inequality in the distribution of Economic Medical Treatment Funds’ profit on hospital’s employees, in addition to demanding the disbursement of cash inducements.

Regulating the Nursing Profession

There is no single law regulating the profession of nursing in Egypt in a way that it can be applicable to all nurses working in public hospitals.

Nurses are distributed among the Ministry of Health-affiliate hospitals, upon Law No. 81 of 2016, AKA Civil Service Law along with the Presidential Decree No. 744 of 1976, and the executive regulations of the General Organization of Teaching Hospitals and Institutes (THO).

Other nurses work in university hospitals under Law No. 115 of 1993 and Presidential Decree No. 3300 of 1965 on regulating the work in university hospitals all over the United Arab Republic (now Egypt).

This is in addition to the Presidential Decree No. 118 of 2015, which provides for imposing “Doctor Cadre” regulations on all employees working in university hospitals, in addition to many ministerial decisions.

Such a matter is considered a constitutional and legal violation; because it discriminates between holders of the same qualifications which entail equal nature of work.

Nurses’ Work Environment

Since their enrolment at the nursing school, female nurses are subjected to a system that is more likely similar to forced labor or the military system. Students have to undergo training at hospitals in return for a monthly bonus of EGP 11. And after graduation, they have to carry out a two-year compulsory service (commissions) in public hospitals on a salary of no more than EGP 110, which helps the executive authority to fill the nursing shortage with the lowest possible wages.

As for the private sector hospitals, nurses work there under working conditions similar to temporary employment; as the vast majority of them work on fixed-term contracts or without contracts at all.

If a nurse has a tardy arrival of no more than 15 minutes, she shall be punished a half-day deduction and a full day deduction in case the tardiness exceeds 15 minutes. Also, she is not entitled to leave the hospital after the end of her shift unless her colleague came to undertake work after her, and if she stays she will not be paid for the overtime.

Nurses in the hospital are divided into several segments; chief leaders (senior nurses or graduates of the Higher Institutes of Nursing) undertake only administrative and supervisory work, and are paid more than the supervising nurses. They also get rewarded and receive bonuses for making a high percentage of salary deductions against the nurses they are supervising.

Nurses’ Wages

The Ministry of Health-affiliated nurses receive an amount of 7 to 20 LE as a financial incentive twice a week except for June. They are paid an amount of 15 LE, tax deductable for every morning shift (from 8 AM to 8 PM), and 20 LE in case of overnight shift (tax deductable as well).

Nurses also receive a monthly allowance, called “infection allowance”, and some of them receive 15% of the Economic Medical Fund, to be disbursed every six months.

In all cases, the average salary a nurse can be paid per month doesn’t exceed 120 LE in many hospitals, according to Nurse and labor activist Saida Fayed.

Nurses’ Social Status

Female nurses face tremendous social pressures. Working for late hours or having overnight shifts is still socially unacceptable. Also, they face harsh obstacles to maintain their roles as mothers and wives given the burden of family care responsibilities that the society places on them.

Trade-union Awareness and Nurses’ Solidarity

In the past, female nurse activists worked on raising the cultural and social level of the nursing staff through the establishment of the Egyptian Association of Nursing in 1952.

Afterwards, the Nursing Professions Syndicate was founded upon Law No. 115/1976. In accordance with this law, the syndicate is the entity that represents Egyptian male and female nurses, with a headquarters is in Cairo and branches across the governorates.

The Council of the Syndicate is authorized to consider any amicable settlement of any dispute that may arise between members, or between members and their employers with respect to the profession.

The Syndicate has different divisions:

  • Division of graduates of high nursing institutes and faculties, and holders of equivalent degree
  • Division of graduates of technical and health institutes and holders of equivalent degrees.
  • Division of graduates of nursing and obstetrics schools affiliated with faculties of medicine in universities and hospitals affiliated with the Ministry of Health (old system); graduates of 3-year nursing schools; graduates of nursing technical high schools.
  • Division of graduates of assistant-nurse schools (eighteen months certificate in nursing), assistant-obstetrics nurses (eighteen months certificate in obstetrics).

Upon a decision by the Council of the Syndicate, it is permissible to establish Local Syndicates across the country’s governorates, except Cairo, as per the internal system’s regulations.

Nurses’ strikes at Shebin El-Kom Hospital resulted in the emergence of a number of women trade unionists in Menoufia governorate, including Sara Abdel Fattah Ibrahim and Nahed Said, as well as a number of women rights activists in Egypt, including activist Saida al-Sayed Fayed.

Speaking about the Nursing Professions Syndicate’s role, a woman says:” The Syndicate doesn’t pursue to offer rewards (financial bonuses) for us; they don’t stand up for our rights or care for our conditions. Many of the Syndicate’s members are not even aware of the syndicate’s law”. She also demanded to “withdraw confidence from all local syndicates that do not play their role.”

In a meeting with the trade unionist and activist Saida al-Sayed, she made several observations regarding the violation of nurses’ rights and the Nursing Professions Syndicate’s slackness in defending nurses’ rights; as it doesn’t support them while trying to obtain their legitimate rights using all peaceful means, including the right to strike.

Another lady pointed out that:

  • The Nursing Professions Syndicate is a poor syndicate; because those in charge had been negligent in collecting the membership subscription fees, and allocated the syndicate’s resources in a way that wouldn’t bring benefits to its members (nurses).
  • Conflict of interests; Dr. Khawthar Mahmoud became the head of the Nursing Syndicate at time she held the post of Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health for Nursing Affairs, which is an executive position.
  • There is a need for all nurses and nurses’ rights defenders to pay attention for the newly-enacted Nursing Profession Practice Act, which cares about nurse duties while turns a blind eye to their rights.

A lady said, “At time the government-affiliate nursing schools are being closed, the private sector has been allowed to open private institutes to meet the shortage and needs of the private sector, making male and female nurses graduates after only six months of study, which emphasizes that the current authority seeks to privatize the health sector in Egypt.

Another lady pointed out that those who graduated from such institutes did not receive enough training to put the lives of patients in their hands.

By virtue of the Nursing Professions Syndicate’s slackness and negativity, nurses initiated, in the aftermath of the 25 January Revolution, the establishment of manifold independent trade unions such as: the independent union of Qasr al-Aini Hospital’s workers, the independent union of Mansheyet Bakri Hospital’s workers, and the independent union of Qasr Al-Aini Al-Fransawi Hospital’s workers; in order to make their voice be heard in light of the Nursing Professions Syndicate’s silence.

However, the initiative was not welcomed by the Egyptian “official” Trade Union Federation (ETUF) or the Ministry of Manpower, which instead hindered attempts to adjust the position of these trade unions and thwarted their recent elections held in late May and early June 2018.

Recommendations

Recommendations to the Ministry of Health

 

  • Bridging the shortfall in the nurse workforce by opening the door for new appointments, and reducing the number of nursing supervisors by commissioning them to undertake nursing works.
  • Granting nurses, during the commissioning period, a monthly salary of at least EGP 1,200 that is subject to increase after appointment; in a way that it can be commensurate with the increase of prices to ensure nurses are maintaining good quality of life.
  • Introducing internal regulations and sanctions that would ensure decent treatment of nurses in a way that befits the role they play in the society.
  • Amending the regulations of the Economic Medical Treatment Fund to ensure a fair distribution of these funds.
  • Ensuring equal pay among nurses in different public institutions in case the job’s workload and nature is equal.
  • Raising the working shifts’ allowance in public hospitals to be equal to private hospitals’ and exempting the elderly from night shifts.
  • Ensuring that nurses are treated as equals with other employees in the hospital in terms of receiving medical services.

Recommendations for Nurses

  • Nurses should pay attention to trade-union activity, follow up news on the Nursing Professions Syndicate, and seek to form independent trade unions that care for the interests of nurses
  • Nurses should be informed of the laws regulating the nursing profession, in addition to Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977 (No. 149) concerning Employment and Conditions of Work and Life of Nursing Personnel.

The struggle endured by Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital’s nurses is sounding a terrifying alarm. It alerts those in charge in all state’s sectors to the necessity of paying attention to the demands raised by the nursing profession, which should be met; in order to ensure that the process of providing medical service is on the right track without any obstacles, and that it is carried out with the enthusiasm and efficiency that will satisfy the patient and his family.

Nurses’ Protests against Forced Labor Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital (Case Study) word

Nurses’ Protests against Forced Labor Shebin El-Kom Teaching Hospital (Case Study) pdf