The Minya Pharmacists’ Syndicate has submitted a request to Interior Minister Major General Muhammad Ibrahim to allow pharmacists in Minya to carry guns in self-defence, by making the licensing of guns for the syndicate members unconditional
The Minya Pharmacists’ Syndicate has submitted a request to Interior Minister Major General Muhammad Ibrahim to allow pharmacists in Minya to carry guns in self-defence, by making the licensing of guns for the syndicate members unconditional. The request comes in the wake of a wave of assaults against and the abduction of pharmacists in the town of Minya, Upper Egypt, owing to the security chaos which has come to dominate streets all through Egypt after the 25 January 2011 Revolution.
Four pharmacists were recently kidnapped in Minya, and were only set free upon the payment of ransom money that ran into the tens of thousands Egyptian pounds.
The head of the Minya Pharmacists’ Syndicate Ahmed Eleiwa told the media that a meeting is planned this week with the local politicians and security authorities to demand that security be brought to Minya streets and pharmacies. Dr Eleiwa said that, if the demand for security is not met, the Syndicate considers escalating activism; this includes protests and strikes.
The predominant security chaos has led to the closure for a few hours of the emergency department of the National Heart Institute (NHI) in Imbaba, Cairo, twice last week. The doctors at the reception and emergency departments of the NHI, the leading hospital in Egypt and the Middle East for cardiology and cardiac surgery, were in both cases viciously attacked by family members of patients who insisted they were not receiving adequate care.
In the wake of the second attack on 25 February, the Interior Ministry provided extra security forces to the hospital, and the hospital is back to normal operation.