In Egypt, where two presidents have been forced from office in the past four years after street protests largely organized on Facebook, the social network became a rallying point for anger at the country’s rulers again this week, in the form of a new page dedicated to showing images of deplorable conditions in state-run hospitals.
The independent Cairene news site Mada Masr reported that the photographs of dirty, run-down facilities were submitted by doctors who are furious at being blamed for the failings of Egypt’s badly under-resourced health care system.
Just five days after the page was established, it hosts nearly 450 images of patients in hospitals in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities surrounded by filth, stray cats, sewage, rodent droppings and snakes.
As Mai Noman of BBC News noted, one of the photographs shared on the Facebook page showed a sign reading: “Important notice: Please do not drink any water from the hospital as there is bacteria in the water that could lead to death.”
The anonymous administrators opened the account on Sunday, one day after Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab was seen on state television criticizing hospital staff members during surprise visits to the National Heart Institute and other facilities in Cairo.
Video of the prime minister yelling at a receptionist, watching a cat walk down a hall and expressing his shock at the dilapidated facilities was broadcast on national television. “I respect surgeons,” Mr. Mahlab reportedly said at one point, “but the poor woman who is outside complaining is the one who paid for your education, and I’m here to serve these poor people.”
According to Ahram Online, a state-owned news site, after Mr. Mahlab’s well-publicized visit, Egypt’s powerful and well-financed armed forces announced that they would “renovate the heart institute’s clinics, reception and emergency rooms.”
The Facebook page, which has attracted more than 290,000 subscribers since Sunday, is titled “So he is not surprised if he comes,” mocking the prime minister’s lack of awareness at the dire state of hospitals his government is responsible for.
The Egyptian Medical Syndicate, a union representing doctors, called the Mr. Mahlab’s surprise baffling, given that it has been calling attention to the problem for years.
A similar Facebook page, showing Egypt’s run-down schools, was set up but later deleted by an activist whose family was concerned for his safety, Anne-Sophie Brändlin reported for Deutsche Welle, the German state broadcaster.
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