UK-Egypt health cooperation despite medical negligence in prison

The British ambassador to Egypt has taken part in the second meeting of the UK-Egypt Healthcare Initiative, despite serious allegations of healthcare abuse inside Egypt’s prisons.

Ambassador Geoffrey Adams tweeted that the UK was supporting Egypt’s Ministry of Health offer “quality healthcare to all Egyptians.”

Since 2011, over 700 Egyptian prisoners have died as a result of deliberate medical negligence, according to the Arab Organisation for Human Rights.

https://twitter.com/GeoffreyDAdams/status/1206532607758020609

In January Egypt and the UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding to increase health care sector cooperation between the two countries including the exchange of knowledge and skills.

The UK will also train medical professionals in Egypt.

Strategic partnership between the two countries has raised serious questions given Egypt’s history of human rights abuses, particularly its record on withholding urgent medical care from detainees.

READ: UK lifts ban on flights to Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh

In June, after former President Mohamed Morsi collapsed in court after being consistently denied medicine for diabetes, a report published by an independent panel said it met the threshold for torture in Egyptian and international law.

His son Abdullah accused President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of “killing” his father.

In April last year leading opposition politician Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh suffered a double heart attack in prison and was not given appropriate medical attention. Egyptian authorities denied he was ill.

The meetings are part of increasing cooperation between the UK and Egypt over a number of sectors including education, health care and entrepreneurship with the goal of strengthening links between the two countries.

READ: Israa Abdelfattah transferred to hospital amid fears for her deteriorating health

As part of Egypt’s 2030 vision to develop education, the European University in Egypt will teach degrees under the academic direction of the London School of Economics following a deal signed with the University of London.

Partnerships between British education institutions in the UK and Egypt is highly controversial given that an Italian student studying in the UK was tortured to death in Cairo in early 2016.

Giulio Regeni’s case remains unsolved.

In 2018 over 200 academics signed a letter opposing the partnership accusing government officials and university managers of “masking human rights abuses in order to make short-term profits in the global education market.”

The University of Hertfordshire and Coventry University have both launched branches in Egypt.

The UK is Egypt’s single largest foreign investor and has consistently failed to raise human rights concerns with its key ally in a bid to protect its economic interests.

The Egyptian regime has carried out the most severe crackdown on members of the opposition, arresting, imprisoning and systematically torturing political prisoners.

READ: Egypt executes 3 detainees on terror-related charges

Following the September protests, shortly after the Sisi regime embarked on the most brutal crackdown since his rise to power, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the dictator at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Downing Street said the two leaders “discussed our two countries’ economic ties and the importance of building on this after the UK leaves the EU.”