The Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) is currently in the process of implementing several projects, of which will be the largest of their kind within the Middle East. This project includes a mobile medical convoy to be deployed with a vast amount of doctors and nurses, as well as volunteers and all the proper facilities to abolish the large waiting list in hospitals. All costs have been covered by the Swiss embassy until the end of the year and the objective is in providing medical aid to migrants and the vulnerable population across Egypt. These fully-equipped mobile clinics will be roaming the streets of Cairo as well as across the nation. The next destination of this large mobile medical convoy will be Luxor and Aswan. Upper Egypt currently suffers from a lack of health services and these mobile field hospitals seek to tackle this head-on. Rural and low-income family areas will be specifically targeted throughout these missions. The medical convoys are equipped with emergency rooms, ICUs, psychological support centers, operation theatres, pharmacies, and other vital stations to ensure the appropriate treatment for patients.
At the moment, the first primary objective of the ERC focuses on include raising awareness about their activities, such as the medical convoy. The second objective includes promoting the online donation bank accounts, and the third to attract volunteers both with a medical background and without one to be a part of the ERC’s family. This project has been funded by the International Federation of the Red Cross (ICRC) as well as USAID. Among the projects, the ERC is currently carrying out also include disinfection and sterilization of places that are more likely in spreading COVID-19, particularly government offices. They have played a large humanitarian role in Egypt as well as regionally and internationally. Throughout the pandemic, the ERC has delivered hygiene kits to the most vulnerable population and slums are especially amongst their main concerns. The medical workers on the frontlines, also called the “white army,” have received mental and psychological support during their services, particularly to doctors and nurses in isolation hospitals.
The ERC was established in 1911 as an auxiliary body of the Egyptian government as well as an extension of the ICRC and the Red Crescent organization. Their activities and services are executed in alignment with the principles set forth by the ICRC and their work. Volunteers and staff members make up the ERC and are widely referred to as the “public good.” Their goal is to reduce human suffering as much as possible, regardless of the situation at hand. Furthermore, the ERC at the moment serves as the only NGO that possess a license to establish any social services within Egypt’s North Sinai region. Cooperating with the ICRC in distributing food parcels in the area, north Sinai remains as an area highly guarded by the military due to terrorist networks, especially “Al Bayt Al Maqdis,” who have been establishing networks and carrying out attacks from the area.
