Dr Bishay was born on 25 August 1936 in Sohag, Egypt, the first of six children of Coptic Christian parents from Upper Egypt. After an illustrious school career he moved to the capital to study medicine at the University of Cairo, obtaining his MB ChB in 1958. He worked as a general practitioner in various Egyptian military hospitals for the next four years and obtained his Diploma in General Medicine in 1964. He continued to work in military hospitals for two further years as a physician.