/ 1 January 2002

Egyptian medics jailed for Aids outbreak

The former director of a central Cairo hospital and 28 doctors and nurses were sentenced on Tuesday to a year in jail for negligence after kidney dialysis patients were infected with Aids, judicial sources said.

The verdict was handed down at a court at Al-Darb al-Ahmar in the centre of the Egyptian capital.

Abdel Hamid Abaza and the other defendants had been charged with ”serious negligence” in connection with the infection of 17 dialysis patients at the Ahmed Maher public hospital in 1997.

It was shown that both the dialysis machines and blood used in the procedure carried the Aids virus.

The defence said that the 29 people convicted, each released on bail of 2 000 Egyptian pounds ($430), would lodge an appeal. – Sapa-AFP