In Egypt's coronavirus outbreak, the Mersal Foundation charity is an oasis of care - The Washington Post

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Cairo-Flooding for help. By 2 pm, Raba Mokhtar picked up the 131st call of the day and went to the 24-hour hotline of the Mersal Foundation. Like most

At the other end of the line, a woman frantically described the condition of a relative, a 67-year-old man who tested positive for the virus. He had a fever of 100 degrees and could barely breathe. They first tried the hotline of the Ministry of Health to find a bed in a government hospital, but no luck.

 "So, you call them and they put him on the waiting list?" Mokhtar confirmed this, asking the woman questions and writing down the answers. "Does he need an intensive care unit?"

In a country where government medical resources may be stretched or insufficient, and most people cannot afford to be hospitalized, a little-known charity has become the lifeline of thousands of Egyptians. In the past year, especially in the most recent year

During the wave, the Mersal Foundation has contracted and paid for private hospitals, or provided oxygen cylinders for those in need.

 Mersal and its founder, Heba Rashed, became so trusted that more than 25 million people are now following her social media accounts to understand the true impact of the Egyptian pandemic. Her post has become an antidote to the widespread criticism of lack of transparency.

Today, many Egyptians insist on every assessment made by Rashed.

"The founder and CEO of the NGO @Mersalcharity, this is one of the most trusted voices on Covid19 in Egypt, and it shows that the number of cases has declined,"

, A well-known blogger tweeted on January 13. The situation is still serious, but still hopeful. "

Since the outbreak, Egypt has reported approximately 165,000 infections and 9,100 deaths. Medical experts and even government ministers

President Abdul Fatah Al

Sissi's Government

The official accounts of the pandemic. UN officials said at least 15 people were arrested for spreading "false news" about the virus. Doctors were sentenced to prison or condemned for complaining about lack of protective equipment, and Western journalists were expelled for publishing data questioning official fees.

In January, public suspicion increased when a video spread the virus online. The video claimed that coronavirus patients in government hospitals had died due to lack of oxygen. The government denied the report, but a week later

To meet the increasing demand.

In this context, the Messal Foundation has become a trusted care oasis.

The 40-year-old Rashed has become the prognosis of the coronavirus for his army of followers. She said: "It makes me very responsible for every word I utter." "People are affected by everything I say."

Rashed grew up in the desert town of Fayoum in Jordan and Egypt and never planned to set up a charity. In university, she studied Spanish and Arabic, and later received a master's degree in linguistics and diplomas in other fields. She later served as a linguist and project manager. In her spare time, she volunteered to go to a local charity.

 Rashed said that she soon realized that she was "not passionate" about work and found that her charity work was more fulfilling. She also noticed that there are few non-profit organizations in Egypt that specialize in health issues. Therefore, she launched Mersal with two friends 5 years ago.

"It was really difficult at the beginning," Rush recalled. "We have no contact."

In the end, they found a sympathetic donor. He donated about $1,300, and they set up a charity in Rashed's apartment. They grow up slowly, mainly collecting donations on social media. They are beginning to receive the attention of some larger donors.

According to Rashed, the foundation now has four offices in Cairo and one office in the northern city of Alexandria, with approximately 200 employees. She often gets hooked on her phone like IV, and energetically answers dozens of calls every day as a teenager.

On a recent afternoon, Rashed was sitting in a foundation office on a quiet tree-lined street in Cairo’s affluent Maadi enclave, sitting in a large multi-storey house with green doors . In the reception area, some people are seeking financial assistance to solve various medical diseases.

The nerve center is a small room with eight tables. Employees take turns to answer hotline calls around the clock. Especially in the past few weeks, I have been busy with coronavirus 60 to 70 times a day on average.

Rashed said: "In terms of infection intensity, the second wave of viruses is more vicious than the first wave." "The number of infections is greater than the previous wave. There are more symptoms."

She was infected. More than half of her 100 employees are in the office, so she had to implement a large-scale quarantine.

Rush said, "This makes our job very difficult."

Nevertheless, the foundation is still operating.

A 67-year-old man with breathing difficulties is a typical case. Although he uses a tank, his oxygen content is extremely low. He also suffers from diabetes and heart disease, which exacerbated the impact of the coronavirus.

The employee who answered the call, Mokhtar, asked the man's relatives to send a complete medical report, an X-ray of his lungs and any blood tests. Mokhtar gave her a WhatsApp number.

Mokhtar said: "We will bring them to the medical department, and we will make your bed when we are free." "Peace be with you."

The employee said that it usually takes several hours to find a bed, but it may last a day or two. In the early wave of summer, few private hospitals accepted COVID-19 patients, and government hospitals were not well prepared, resulting in a severe shortage of beds.

Now, the foundation has signed contracts with more than 30 private hospitals. In some cases, patients who need help can pay part or all of the cost. However, in most cases, the charity pays up to $1,300 per day for hospital beds in the intensive care unit, most of which is obtained through online donations. In many cases, hospital beds can eventually be used in government hospitals, allowing the foundation to save money for the most needed cases.

Rashid said: "The government has prepared more hospitals to treat the virus, and the private sector has begun to deal with it."

Magdy Eissa, the medical director of the foundation, said that nearly 90% of patients come from the urban area. When symptoms become unbearable, they usually contact the foundation. Since December, the charity has also helped 22 infected refugees, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa.

The foundation’s Facebook page is full of thank-you letters from patients and their relatives urging people to donate. There are also burning accounts of the damage caused by the virus.

Hossam Elagamy recounted his family's efforts last year to save an aging, diabetic relative who was infected by a virus that had become ill and began to vomit. The ambulance arrived three hours later, but the medical staff refused to transport the person because he had not been tested for coronavirus. Finally, an hour later, another ambulance came to the hospital and took him to the hospital.

At the hospital, staff refused to give him an intensive care unit bed, saying that they were not equipped to treat covid-19 patients. An hour later, an ambulance took him to another hospital. It is also full.

"We called people we know who could help, but in vain," Elragami wrote.

He finally went online to find a hospital option. He found a woman praising the Mersal Foundation's efforts on Facebook. Elagamy called the hotline and was asked to send the medical treatment of his relatives

report.

He wrote that after fifteen minutes, the Foundation found the bed. But the condition of his relatives deteriorated in the institution. Elagamy said that he later died.

"May God eliminate this crisis," Elragemi wrote. "May God end this epidemic."

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