Administrative Court Sides with Revolution’s Injured Again
In a new victory for the Revolution’s injured, ECESR obtained a ruling from the Administrative Court in favor of Dr.Kamal Anwar AbdelGhani obliging the state, represented in ( The President, Prime Minister, Health Minister & Secretary General for the National Council for Care for the Martyrs & Injured) to provide the required health care for the injured and all necessary expenses needed for medical treatment abroad and finish all procedures relating to the matter.
The Court ruled to suspend the National Council negative decision to desist from taking the required procedures to treat the plaintiff (Dr.Kamal Anwar) abroad and provide the needed cost according to the .recommendations of the Medical Commission and the medical consultant in London
The court awarded case costs for the plaintiff and held the verdict effective on draft and without announcement and referred the case to the Commissioners College to prepare a legal opinion on the .requests of compensation and cessation
It is noteworthy that this verdict came after 6 months of the election of the first civilian president post Jan 25 revolution, despite several promises the president made to gratify the injured and martyrs’ families, .neglect -even abuse- is still very much the prevailing case despite several effective court verdicts
The law suit goes back to January 28 2011 when the plaintiff (Dr. Kamal) was shot with live ammunition while trying to aid the injured in the field hospital established in Tahrir Sq, he was shot with 2 live rounds in upper left thigh and anus, which resulted in laceration in rectum and anus area , surgery was performed to create a bypass for stool through a abdominal opening, following surgeries were needed to restore the body normal functions, after the initial operations done in Al-Moneera General Hospital, the medical team advised necessity of medical treatment abroad , which indeed happened with the Egyptian Sports Club bearing the cost of travel to London, Dr.Kamal defrayed all other treatment expenses before returning home.
It was then decided he needed to travel again to continue treatment in the UK, by addressing the hospital it was shown that the medical bill has reached 30,000 £ ( 50,000 USD), accordingly the plaintiff resorted to the National Council which referred him to the Health Ministry which in turn referred him on October 12th 2011 to Ain-Shams collegiate hospital, only to be transferred again to the ” Global Medical Center” on January 17, 2012.
After more than six months from knocking on all possible doors, Health Minister issued decision no.(2/p/2012) to approve contribution to travel expenses in order to receive treatment in Sheffield hospital in London for a period of one month with only 12,000 USD including all expenses, the contribution was not to be increased at all with patient bearing any cost increase.
With the insufficiency if the money provided to cover treatment costs, the patient petitioned the National Council to provide the amount needed to continue treatment,yet the Council avoided taking any decisive actions which resulted in serious complications to the patient’s condition, the patient filed many petitions to all responsible authorities in Egypt with no avail, until this verdict by the Administrative Court came into being
We are now faced with the ubiquitous question: will the State adhere to the verdict and take all the required actions to treat the patient as fast as possible, or will we witness more delay and stalling which will only jeopardize his well-being?