The Egyptian Doctors Association in Britain organized a charity event to collect donations for Ain Shams Children’s Hospital and Abbassia Fever Hospital. The association succeeded in raising 10,000 pounds.
The event was attended by many Arab diplomats, media professionals and doctors, including the Tunisian ambassador to Britain, Nabil bin Khader, and the Moroccan ambassador, Abdel Salam Abu Dreir. However, the Egyptian ambassador, Tariq Adel, apologized for not attending and sent a high diplomatic delegation on his behalf.
Dr Samih Amer, the former medical attaché at the Egyptian Embassy, Mostafa Ragab, President of the Federation of Egyptian Communities in Europe, Magdy Abbas, President of the Egyptian Community in Britain, and Mervat Khalil, representing the General Federation of Egyptians Abroad, were there too.
The Egyptian Medical Association in Britain organized a ceremony, an hour after holding its annual meeting, for the first time, in two years, due to the lockdown restrictions imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The association’s administration announced the inauguration of Dr Dia El-Din Kamel, as president of the association, to succeed Dr Tariq Al-Ghazali, who ended his presidency of the association. The new board of directors of the association was announced, with the extension of Dr Laila Abu Zekri, treasurer, responsible for delivering donation funds to Egypt, and Dr Sameh Kamel Hindi’s appointment as secretary of the association. At the same time, Dr Mohamed Latif continues as honorary president of the association.
The ceremony began with the Republican anthem. Then, annual awards for the best scientific research were distributed to young doctors of Egyptian origin in Britain, and a charitable competition and auction were held to collect donations for Egyptian hospitals.
To ensure the safety of the attendees, the party organizers asked the guests to take the coronavirus test before coming to the hall.
Dr Dia El-Din Kamel said, in statements to Al-Masry Al-Youm, after his inauguration as president of the Egyptian Doctors Association in Britain: “I am honoured to hold this responsibility, hoping that the rest of the association’s members will cooperate with me, for the continuity and development of charitable work.”
Kamel added: Our first goal behind the association is to help Egypt and gather Egyptian doctors in Britain under one umbrella. We have a large number of ambitious ideas, some of which we implemented during the association’s previous sessions, and some we look forward to implementing.
Kamel said: “Before, the association was able to collect donations for the 57375 Children’s Cancer Hospital, and we collected donations for the Dr Magdi Yacoub Center, and we prepared medical convoys that roamed throughout Egypt for free, and we implemented this more than once, and it is a tradition we are keen to repeat on an annual basis.”
“Kamel” indicated that the Coronavirus lockdown prevented the implementation of medical convoys during the past two years, so the association contented itself with organizing remote conferences with Egyptian doctors inside Egypt, intending to transfer expertise and benefit from the British protocol, used to combat the epidemic, to exchange information between Britain And Egypt regarding ways to combat the Corona pandemic.
The new president of the Egyptian Doctors Association in Britain spoke about the most important challenges facing the association, saying: “The main dilemma that we were facing was how to send donation money to Egypt, especially that we are registered in Britain as a non-profit charitable association. Therefore, permission must be obtained, and British authorities have to be informed in every decision related to funds transfer.
“On one occasion, the association was able to collect donations of 80,000 pounds for the benefit of hospitals in Egypt. But we faced difficulty in transferring those funds, and the procedures took time until obtaining the approval of the British Tax Authority and other parties. We had to set up an international account in one of the British banks to transfer money to Egypt. If we had an Egyptian bank in Britain, the task would have been easier.”
He said the association’s work philosophy: “We do not engage in religious or political activities. We are a civil society association whose members are Egyptian doctors working in Britain. We appreciate the efforts of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in various fields, and we pray for him to succeed. We appreciate the government’s efforts, and we do not engage in political activities within the association.” Our first goal is to help our country by collecting donations, organizing medical convoys, and providing a helping hand to Egyptian doctors coming to Britain through social activities represented in periodic meetings.”
Kamel concluded his statements by saying: “I learned free education in Egypt, and what my fellow Egyptian doctors and I do in Britain is the least that can be offered to our country as part of giving back.”
