Bureaucratic red tape forced patients to make their own dirty bandages

Evidence

Since the quality of bandages is considered to be one of the key issues in surgery, we have conducted an examination of these bandages used in the hospital and found that they are very bad indeed. They were coarse and dirty, contaminating the wounds that they are supposed to dress … [Then he gives his explanation for this situation:] An order has been issued from the War Department to the Director of the Central Depot of Medicine to hand in used and semi-used [nisf isti‘māl] cloth to the Chief Pharmacist accompanied by a stamped receipt. The Chief Pharmacist is then supposed to hand the cloth to the Chief Surgeon also accompanied by a receipt. The Chief Surgeon, in turn, is then to hand in the cloth to the Director of the Hospital who would then distribute it among the patients to make the bandages themselves. He is then supposed to collect them from the patients. In this manner the bandages would have already changed hands four times. This is against the Hospital regulations that should not be violated. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1133

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Echoes the red-tape and corruption themes from earlier chapters on Egyptian military bureaucracy.