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Egypt’s doctors take on army over HIV ‘cure’ controversy

The controversy caused in Egypt by a new device to treat hepatitis C and HIV continues, with disciplinary action being recommended by the Medical Syndicate against four doctors involved in the case.
Doctors sit at the emergency reception area during a strike at Al-Moniera public hospital in Cairo October 2, 2012. Egypt's doctors began a partial strike on Monday with varied demands, including making the health budget 15 percent of the state budget, and improving security conditions to protect doctors and patients from assaults, said members of the Doctors' Syndicate. The poster on top of the wall on right reads: "An open-ended strike for doctors, For patients before doctors". REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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An Egyptian Medical Syndicate internal investigative committee recommended the initiation of disciplinary action against four physicians found to have participated in promoting a device that treats patients with hepatitis C and HIV, prior to the completion of recognized scientific efficacy tests. In a July 18 statement published on its official website, the syndicate stated that the physicians deliberately caused harm to millions of Egyptians who sought treatment with the device, which the syndicate characterized as “dubious.”

On Feb. 22, 2014, the spokesperson for the Egyptian army had announced on his Facebook page that the engineering authority of the armed forces had invented a device to diagnose and treat hepatitis C and HIV, with the patent for this device registered after receiving approval from the Egyptian Ministry of Health.

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