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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 July - 2 August 2000 Issue No. 492 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 July - 2 August 2000 Issue No. 492
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Trying to care
Sir- At 62 I have retired in this wonderful land of Egypt. For 36 years I cared for children and then their children, who are now adults, as a New York paediatrician and family practitioner. When I came here I wanted to give back to the field of medicine and to my host, Egypt. A charity organisation was contacted and I set out to obtain Egyptian credentials.Copies of my diplomas and institution letters for those missing were presented to the office of the Health Minister. I was instructed to have copies, stamps and translations made. This required seven different trips to Cairo from Alexandria. The cost to me was more than $1000.
All were presented but refused because they were not the originals and there was no high school diploma. The missing diplomas cannot be replaced and the others I will not trust to any country's mail. My request that the various institutions be faxed was denied. To obtain a high school record 45 years after graduation from a small town in Missouri is almost impossible.
During my years of medical practice I taught at a medical school, attained the status of consultant in paediatrics, published in research and won a few prizes. My medical school in St Louis, Missouri is still in the top 10 in the US.
Each day I walk along the Mediterranean when I could be providing free care for children and families.
Does anyone think that a medical school entrance is possible without high school?
The authority that provides medical care for the public has a bureaucratic system which prevents me from doing just that. It is the theatre of the absurd.
Martin H Platt, MD, FAAP
Alexandria
Mothers and children
Sir- Egypt's laws on nationality still languish in the 19th century. Until today, Egyptian women cannot pass on their nationality to their own children.Foreign women can obtain an Egyptian passport when they marry an Egyptian man. Of course, their children are Egyptian nationals. So the children of Egyptian women are deemed foreign when the children of foreign women are considered Egyptian. In effect, foreign women are rewarded for marrying Egyptian men, but Egyptian women are penalised for marrying foreign men.
I am Egyptian and my son's father has an Egyptian mother. My son, who has never set foot in Britain, has a British passport, so he will be treated as a foreigner. How much longer will it take for Egypt to look more kindly on the children of her own daughters?
Maha Murad
Maadi
