Medics demand equal bonuses in another day of protests

Scores of doctors in Mahalla, Gharbiya staged a protest demanding the distribution of bonuses equal to those received by colleagues at other hospitals and health departments.

Protesters demanded bonuses of 175 percent for doctors and pharmacists, and 125 percent for nurses. Those figures were stipulated in a ministerial decision adopted last April.

Fifty-five dentists and ophthalmologists said they refused the 75 percent they have been offered, and demanded full payment of their bonus.

Nurses said the money set aside for their bonuses had instead been transferred to Sammanoud health department.

In Qalyubiya, around 200 nurses from the public general hospital and the fever hospital in Toukh organized a demonstration to complain about a two-month delay in the payment of their bonuses.

In Suez, 70 paramedics continued a sit-in at the governorate's ambulance point for a second day, protesting a two-month delay in salary payments. Protesters said five ambulances were currently out of action and further strikes would be staged if demands are not met.

Meanwhile in the 6th of October governorate, 500 citizens rallied in front of the Hawamdiya city council to protest a month-long water cut in the vicinity of the city’s main Baghdad Street. In Ismailia, scores of citizens in Qantara Sharq protested against the demolition of their homes and farms by security forces.