CAIRO: Egypt’s Interior Ministry embarked on dispatching medical convoys to several governorates in a bid to improve the ministry’s image and “gain public support.”
”A medical convoy, laden with free medical supplies, headed to Alexandria today. It comprised of 14 nurses and 14 doctors of different specialties,” Interior Minister Assistant for Human Rights Abu-Bakr Abdel-Kareem told the privately-owned ON TV satellite channel Monday.
The move comes after President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has apologized to the Egyptian people for human right abuses committed by the police in the wake of last week’s incident of a police officer beating a lawyer with a shoe.
”I apologize to every Egyptian citizen who has been subjected to any abuse. I am accountable for anything that happens to an Egyptian citizen,” Sisi said in a televised speech Saturday.
The interior ministry was harshly criticized by rights groups over some violent practices against civilians particularly under Mubarak’s regime. However, a cabinet poll, announced in May 2015, showed that 71 percent of Egyptians believe that the police are positively interacting with citizens under President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s rule.
The 2011 uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak has caused an unprecedented security lapse across the country.