Moroccan health minister outlines plan to overhaul troubled sector

06/07/2008

Moroccan Health Minister Yasmina Baddou appeared on national television on July 1st to present her road map to reform the health sector. Many Moroccans complain about poor management and say the provision of health care is linked with the patient's financial status.

By Hassan Benmehdi for Magharebia in Casablanca - 06/07/08

[Hassan Benmehdi] Moroccan Health Minister Yasmina Baddou spoke to the Moroccan public about efforts to reform the health sector, which many say is marked by cronyism and poor management.

Appearing on Moroccan television's Channel 1 on Tuesday (July 1st), Moroccan health minister Yasmina Baddou presented an optimistic plan for the future of the health sector in the country. Moroccans were quick to cite the sector's numerous shortcomings.

"Health is first and foremost a right which every citizen should enjoy, and it is our duty to provide the necessary care and hospitals," Baddou said, adding that the present government has made health a priority. The 2008 finance bill includes a 10% increase for the sector.

According to Baddou, the sector's problems have less to do with inadequate financing than with management and good governance. She said that in order to set up an action plan, her ministerial staff has been working tirelessly for seven months to overcome the basic problems, failures and loopholes which have made Morocco’s health system so sick.

The minister promised to report back to the nation in six months’ time on her progress.

Chief among the issues on the minister's reform agenda are inaccessibility to care in rural areas, problems with emergency treatment, poor cleanliness in public hospitals, cronyism, corruption, and, most of all, she said, problems with the fair and timely provision of care and medication to needy citizens throughout Morocco.

Many of those who watched the minister's TV interview found Baddou optimistic, but far from convincing.

"Getting treatment is still very expensive in Morocco, and many people still cannot afford to go and see a doctor or have an operation," Casablanca shoemaker Abdlemounaïm Doublal told Magharebia. Baddou’s health strategy is all theoretical and unrealistic when it comes to solving the real problems with the Moroccan health system, he added.

Zaki and Moustapha, two waiters in a Casablanca café, commented that there were times when they were unable to get into Casablanca's Ibn Rochd hospital because of a lack of resources and the unavailability of specialist doctors.

University lecturer Miloud Belcadi, however, is more positive about Baddou's chance of success.

"Morocco has seen excellent results in family planning and the wider provision of vaccinations," he said, adding that it would be sensible to wait a bit longer before judging the effect of the minister’s strategy on the ground.

"We are certainly not asking her to work miracles in seven months. There is a huge amount of ground to be made up, failures spread like gangrene throughout the whole system, and the shortages are enormous," he said.

Doctors, meanwhile, have said that Baddou’s strategy will be difficult to implement because there is a huge lack of resources, particularly in rural areas, and accessibility to health care is often tied to financial solvency.

"In Morocco, medical progress remains the privilege of socio-economic groups who are well off, and does not benefit the general public," one doctor who asked not to be identified told Magharebia. "One example is breast cancer, for which today’s advanced and modern treatment requires an average of 25,000 dirhams per month. This is well beyond the reach of a broad swathe of the Moroccan population, not forgetting that in Morocco there are only two public haematology and oncology centres."

Baddou’s media appearance coincided with the July 1st signing of an agreement by the health ministry to provide doctors with raises, medical and social security coverage and integration into the public service after their first year of employment.

According to the minister, this should help improve matters.