Former Egyptian doctor faces trial after hospital abuse claims

A former Egyptian doctor is to stand trial after prosecutors on Saturday accused her of spreading false information through a social media post alleging abuses against women at a major university hospital in Alexandria.

Omnia Swaydan was arrested at her home in Egypt's Nile Delta province of Beheira last week and questioned on charges of spreading false news and misusing social media, according to her lawyers, Asmaa Naeim and Mohamed Ramadan.

She was later released on bail of 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($401), they said on social media.

Swaydan's Facebook post detailed allegations of obstetric violence, patient neglect and degrading treatment of women at Alexandria's Al-Shatby University Hospital, where she trained as a medical resident between 2020 and 2021.

Egypt's public prosecution said on Saturday that it had referred her to criminal court over the post.

It added that Swaydan told investigators some incidents were based on procedures she had witnessed during her training but that, due to her "limited experience", she believed they were unusual and outside accepted medical practice.

Prosecutors said she also acknowledged that some claims had been relayed to her "by others whom she was unable to identify" and that she had not verified whether they had occurred.

In the now-deleted post, Swaydan alleged widespread abuse at the hospital, including claims that a doctor sexually violated a patient during labour and later mocked the incident, and that another woman was slapped and verbally humiliated while giving birth.

She also described the alleged denial of care to vulnerable patients, including a sexual assault survivor who was dismissed and refused treatment, and a critically ill pregnant woman who she said was denied emergency intervention without proof of marriage.

Before the prosecution's announcement, Alexandria University said it would investigate the allegations, adding that any abuses would be addressed "with full firmness and without cover-up or exceptions".

The Doctors' Syndicate said it had not received any formal complaints regarding the claims and urged anyone with evidence to submit it through official channels.

Following Swaydan's post, several women on social media reported similar experiences in public hospitals across Egypt, including Al-Shatby.

AFP was unable to independently verify Swaydan's claims or those shared by other women.