Being highly practical by nature, The Egyptians invented medicine, a notably useful and pragmatic discipline. Their primacy in this field was undisputed.
The care which the Egyptians took of their health was a source of astonishment for foreign observers, particularly Greeks and Romans. Herodotus comments on "The very particular concern of those living in the corn country for their health". Pliny thought that the large number of doctors meant that the population of Egypt suffered from a great number of diseases — a paradoxical piece of logic. Herodotus, on the other hand ,thought that there was no healthier nation than the Egyptians.
At any rate, they really try to do something about illness, and had a large medical corps to help them.
Egyptians doctors had a special status. after being authorized to practice their art, on completion of certain prescribed studies, they were officially approved and receive a salary , like any other civil servant. They could be summoned at any moment and had to provide care for the needy free of charge. Yet they could also charge fee. Naturally, they were under State supervision. If their patients failed to get better, or died, the State could enquire into the reason for such a failure, and make sure that the doctor had followed the rules of his art. Diodorus thought that these rules were based on the belief that tradition and past experience were the safest guarantee of any therapy. Therefore, if the remedy had been administered in keeping with the norms, the doctor was acquitted. Woe betide any doctor who had taken any unsuccessful initiative. He could find himself in real trouble, and even risk capital punishment. One has to admit that such a system does little to encourage progress.
Egyptians were convinced dietitians, and took immense care with their food. As a preventive measure, they practice fasting, abstinence and purgations.
However, if these precaution failed to prevent sickness, they turned to medicine. The Edwin Smith papyrus —named after the American scholar who acquired it —is a work dealing with treatment of injuries, and show just how serious such studies were.