Health Technicians are Coming

The Establishment of a General Union for Health Technicians

Today, Wednesday 29^thDecember 2010, the Egyptian Health Technicians announce the establishment of their Union. They put their hands together, raised their heads high and put their feet on the road to achieve their legalized aspirations.

Today, and before we pay farewell to this year and receive a new year, “we launch our valiant and brave initiative to overcome despair and disappointment”, a unique initiative beyond the accustomed and ordinary forms; an initiative deep-rooted in the land on which we lived together in confrontation with difficulties and risks and in defiance of diseases and work troubles at the same time. Our initiative is inspired by great experiences which were made and exercised by broad categories and sectors of the Egyptian people which struggled relentlessly for free and honourable life.

Today, we the health technicians announce the establishment of our union which we were building for ling months, one brick on the other and day after day until we reached this great achievement.

Who are we?

We may be unknown to some of you, although we meet very often. You see us behind x-ray machines, laboratory equipment, dental equipment, anesthetization equipment and when you call an ambulance for any emergency. We know you. We have met many of you in hospitals seeking your right for medical and health care. Both of us look forward for reforming the health sector. Such an objective cannot be achieved without securing the rights of all the workers in this sector, promoting their opportunities for learning and preserving their dignity and human rights in order to be capable of serving sick people in particular and all the people in general.

  What do we want?

We want to maintain our right to develop the Health Technical Institutes where we learn. We want to secure our right to advanced learning instead of the outdated curricula - which go back to the 1950’s and are no longer taught in the advanced countries. We want to preserve our right to higher education and vocational development. We want to preserve our right to fair salaries which keep our dignity and compensate for our hard work day and night. We want to settle our occupational status and to be appointed on “degree three” according to the law and in implementation of court sentences which judged that the certificate of the Health Technical Institute is a university degree. We want our right to protection from occupational hazards, infection and radiation. We want our right to equal treatment with all the workers in the medical field regarding hazard allowances.

How:

We tries to answer this question more than one year ago. We met, discussed, moved from one governorate to another, made acquaintance with each other and exchanged opinions in order to discover our way: to establish our union … a union for health technicians which organizes their rank and file, develop their demands and movement, express their interests and negotiate on them. We came to the right time to hold our general assembly and finalize the necessary steps for its establishment. Today, we launch our initiative with the New Year. Open your arms and minds … we are on the right path.

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