On
Facebook, some ladies and gentlemen who follow what is written here and which I
post on my Facebook page publish replies, comments and opinions that agree,
disagree, criticize and sometimes attack and mock what I write. I admit that
sometimes I block those who exceed their limits, especially if they breached
ethics of discussion with another person who expressed his or her opinion or
added a comment. I rarely publish those comments I receive on my Facebook page here.
However, I beg your pardon to publish some of what I received in general or
that relates to the article that was published last week titled “The
constitution”.
I
saw along with others a post, that I believe is important in our present
circumstances, from Dr. Hani Shoeib; professor and consultant of Psychiatry in
the United Kingdom “Britain”. I will not talk more about it as it is
self-explanatory and needs no commenting or introduction.
Here
is the text: “My friend is a consultant physician who served in the National
Health System NHS for more than 40 years. He recently retired and we met in a
family evening. He told me about his story and the painful journey he has been
through. He said: “In 2001, I discovered I have Hepatitis C. Physicians advised
that my case does not require treatment and recommended that I just follow up.
I used not to feel any symptoms and my life was normal as usual, as I used to
do my job as a physician with the same efficiency…
“…
In the last liver function test, it turned out that my case became close to
being a critical one, yet there were no symptoms that I was suffering from
liver failure. I sought the opinion of a consultant in the Institute of
Hepatology, King’s College in London. He said that my case may benefit from the
active treatment of Sovaldi medication; however, he did not believe that my
case may be eligible to be given the medication for free as per the applied
rules of the NHS protocol.”
The
consultant went on explaining that the treatment course of Sovaldi medication costs
the NHS 83000 sterling per patient. Therefore, the treatment is limited to only
10% of Hepatitis C patients whose cases are getting worse to the limit of
starting to have a liver failure. Only those are eligible to receive free
treatment…
The
sick Egyptian physician replied to the British consultant: “I cannot believe
what you are saying. I am a British citizen and I pay my taxes fully. I spent
40 years of my professional life working as a physician in the NHS. After all
this, I do not have the right to be treated from a serious illness and I have
to wait until my case deteriorates to liver failure… I will write about this
scandal to the British newspapers”.
The
consultant went into silence then said “Please, wait and let me deliver your
message to the ones in charge”. Two weeks later, the sick doctor received a
notification to start receiving treatment using Sovaldi medication. I went
through laboratory examinations for a few months and treatment lasted for one
year. Afterwards, examination showed that I was cured of Hepatitis C…”
That
was in 2018. The eyes of the physician and all those attending the family
evening watered in tears as the Egyptian doctor, and holder of the British
nationality, added that he paid a visit to his folks in as-Senbelaween town
and knew that some of them were treated using Sovaldi and were cured of their
illness, and that medication was given to them free of charge…
The
man then wondered: Have my folks in Egypt and all Egyptians realized the
meaning of what happened to them? Do they know that the treatment in Britain
costs 83,000 sterling per person and that Egypt provided such treatment for
about two million citizens for free; meaning that Egypt paid four thousand
billion Egyptian pounds as per the value of the sterling pound in Egyptian
currency”.
Dr.
Hani Sho’aib finished his comment saying that his friend continued: “In my
journey back from Egypt to Britain, I looked through the plane window… Cairo was
enveloped in water vapor mixed with dirt and sand… the Nile seemed like a
silver bracelet… and the Pyramids looked high and proud. My eyes went in tears,
my body trembled and my heart whispered: Long live, Egypt”. The comment ended
and I have nothing to add as there is no way to go into a discussion with those
denying seeing the apparent sun light.
Regarding
that article titled “the Constitution” published here last week, I received 19
comments, the most important of them –from the point of view of adding
something new or producing a different opinion- were three comments. Of those
gentlemen were my colleague Mr. Nasr el-Qaffas, the prestigious creative
director Mr. Muhammed Fadel and the philosopher and physician Dr. Charles
Megalli; professor of cardiology…
My
colleague Mr. Nasr al-Qaffas wrote: “Oh, sir… although I enjoy being patient,
silent and feeling bored, but you are pushing me to break my silence… I want to
tell you that what you talked about and what we are currently experiencing is
not new… you may remember that al-Wafd party and Sa’ad Zaghloul were against
the 1932 constitution and Sa’ad Pasha named the committee that worked on drafting
the articles of such constitution “the committee of devils”… It even happened
that he described them as donkey saddles working for the British. Then his
party won the elections and he ruled as per this constitution. Later came
Muhammed Mahmoud who participated in drafting the constitution and suspended it
just because he became the prime minister. Afterwards, an-Nahhas and Muhammed
Mahmoud collaborated against the 1930 constitution and fought to bring the 1923
constitution back. Under such constitution, an-Nahhas accepted to be the prime
minister after the British occupation flouted the constitution, the dignity of
our country and the king when they invaded the King’s palace with tanks on the
4th of February, 1942 and it was also during that time when this
constitution was in power when they used to mess with the parliament and
cabinets…”
“…
The most important thing for those claiming to be guardians of the constitution
was to come to power and enjoy wealth and authority, all this under the name of
the constitution. If the current president followed such way, they would have
gathered around him defending the importance and necessity of amending the
constitution… kindly, accept my appreciation for your writings, audacity and
enlightened thinking”.
That
was what my dear colleague Mr. Nasr al-Qaffas wrote. Actually, I do believe,
like we say in our slang language, that “he put his hand on the point missing”.
I do thank him for this. As to the rest of comments, I will publish them in the
coming articles, hoping that such thing may start a logical discussion around the
issue of amending the constitution.
Translated
into English by Dalia Elnaggar
This article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on
February 20, 2019.
To see the original article, go to:
#Ahmed_ahmad_elgammal #Egypt #constitution #Sovaldi
#Hepatitis_C
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