• MB News
  • December 22, 2008
  • 3 minutes read

Gamal Abdel-Salam: The Saint of Humanitarian Relief

Gamal Abdel-Salam:  The Saint of Humanitarian Relief

His facial features clearly reflect the nature of his profession for 20 years in the Humanitarian Relief Committee for the Arab Medical Doctors Union which witnesses his pure hands that reached out to every
distressed in the Arab World.  He is the Saint of Humanitarian Relief, Dr.  Gamal Abdel-Salam.


Gamal Abdel-Salam was born on September 1957 in Sayyed Zeinab, Cairo.
He earned his Bachelor”s in Medicine and Surgery in 1981 from Cairo University. 
He earned two diplomas, one in General Medicine in 1988
and the other in Hospital Management from the Faculty of Commerce in Cairo University in 1995.  He also received training in Excellent Management in 1998 and Crisis Management Planning in 2003.


Gamal Abdel-Salam is the most prominent and leading relief activist in the Arab World as he headed the Emergency and Relief Committee in the Arab Medical Doctors Union since February 2005 until today.


Abdel-Salam had also occupied several important positions including Secretary-General of the Cairo Medical Doctors Syndicate from November 1999 to 2005.
 He further participated in several relief activities
throughout the Arab World.


Among the countries he visited to carry out his humanitarian duties towards the distressed was Lebanon during and after the last war.
 He also traveled to Somalia where he was head of the single medical delegation there in January 2007 following the war.  In September 2004, he went to Darfour in coordination with the Arab League as well as Iraq before and during the war to survey the human situations there.  He also visited Gaza after the Israeli withdrawal in 2005 as well as South Sudan, Bosnia, and Yemen carrying out several relief activities and projects there.


In spite of him being a relief activist, and not a political one, Abdel-Salam was detained by the Egyptian regime on charges of sneaking into Gaza and mobilizing MB troops to carry out “terrorist operations inside and outside of Egypt,” accusations which Abdel-Salam described during investigations as “security absurdness” no sane person can believe.


This is the second detainment for Gamal Abdel-Salam, his first being in 2005.  This time, however, it followed the Humanitarian Relief Committee”s launch of the call for directing Eid Ul-Adha oblations to the besieged people of Gaza who are living in human disaster.


Following his arrest, the Arab Medical Doctors Union issued a statement denouncing the detainment of a valuable man such as Dr. Gamal Abdel-Salam for no reason other than his honorable stands in relieving the distressed inside and outside Egypt.  The Union further
considered the procedure harmful to Egypt”s reputation at the local, regional, and international levels, especially since Dr. Abdel-Salam is known for his philanthropy throughout his 20 years of work which Egypt and the Arab World are proud of.