Morocco Needs Sweeping Changes In Health Care System – OpEd

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The Moroccan health care system remains highly fragmented and still suffers from outstanding deficiencies that impacts a large population of Moroccans nationwide. In the last two speeches delivered by King Mohammed VI (Throne Day and Opening of Parliament) he urged the government to speed up the reform of the whole health sector in response to the demands of the Moroccans. So today, King Mohammed VI received both the Prime Minister and Minister of Health in order to brief him on the first immediate actions that the government is willing to undertake to remediate the existing deficiencies and to assess the implementation of (RAMED) the Medical Insurance Regime for The Economically Disadvantaged that came into effect in November 2008 and then generalized in the whole country in 2012.

Despite the constant growth of its beneficiaries, the RAMED program still encounters several constraints and shortcomings that limit its effectiveness and its ability to meet the needs of targeted categories, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable people.

Moreover, despite the efforts made, citizens continue to suffer from the many limitations of the current national health system, particularly in terms of imbalance in the provision of care at the territorial level, the quality of the service provided as well as medical and paramedical supervision.

Undoubtedly, the government needs to deploy more efforts to improve the quality of the whole health care system by introducing good governance, improving quality services and motivating the health workforce. So far, the health system, predominantly state owned, is totally fragmented and requires an immediate restructuring of the the legislative and regulatory framework not mentioning poor medical infrastructure. The revamp is part of an effort to broaden access to treatment in a country where more than 80 percent of the population lacks private insurance. This leaves many people relying on a public system with too few doctors and dilapidated hospitals and clinics.

It is true that the shortage of human resources in the health sector contributes to the almost absence of quality services in Moroccan hospitals. Therefore, an immediate strategy needs to be elaborated to overcome this shortage and provide qualified and motivated health workforce to answer the needs of the population.

The inefficiency and ineffectiveness of this key social sector has been exhaustively debated in Moroccan parliament and people are looking forward to the government to taking immediate concrete actions and leave aside the politicized discourse that will not contribute to the evolution of the health care system in Morocco.

Said Temsamani

Said Temsamani is a Moroccan political observer and consultant, who follows events in his country and across North Africa. He is a member of Washington Press Club.

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