Khaberni - In a new blow to the mafia of unlicensed medical centers, the health authorities in Dakahlia Governorate succeeded in uncovering a new "den" that trades in patients' pain under the guise of nutritional therapy.
The authorities announced that the Health Directorate in Dakahlia succeeded in catching a center for nutritional therapy and slimming operating outside the legal framework, during an inspection campaign in the city of Dekernes. It was found that the lady had a bachelor's degree in agriculture and not in medicine, and she was running the center without the necessary licenses.
The inspection campaigns resulted in visits to two centers for mental health and addiction treatment in the cities of Mansoura and Talkha, accompanied by inspectors from the Drug Authority and representatives from the Regional and National Council for Mental Health, where several violations were detected, and the necessary legal actions were taken, along with reports being filed in the police stations in Mansoura and Talkha.
Dr. Sayed Farouk, the deputy of the directorate for medical treatment, affirmed the continuation of intensive and surprise regulatory campaigns on private medical facilities, emphasizing that no illegal practices that could harm citizens' health will be tolerated, with deterrent legal measures being applied against violators.
This campaign comes at a time when the Egyptian Ministry of Health is waging a fierce war against what are known as "unlicensed centers," especially in the fields of slimming and addiction treatment.
The campaigns identified a recurring pattern involving graduates from colleges of agriculture, science, and sports education using their degrees to claim expertise in nutrition, in addition to catching tons of "drugs and supplements" of unknown origin that are manually compounded inside these centers, causing cases of kidney failure and liver cirrhosis in some victims.
The campaign has recently turned to targeting villas and residential buildings that are being converted into addiction treatment centers in areas like Obour, Shorouk, Mariouteya, Cairo, and Mansoura, which lack the basic rules of mental health and operate without supervision from the "General Secretariat of Mental Health."
Recently, the government, in coordination with the House of Representatives, has moved toward reviewing the "Law of Practicing Medicine" to tighten the punishments for impersonating a doctor to include rigorous imprisonment and fines that could reach millions of pounds.
