Moroccan health minister outlines plan to overhaul troubled sector
2008-07-06
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.
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BEN Posted 2008-07-06
The Prime Minister and his government need to help Miss Badou in her quest to improve public health. We wish her complete success. The NGOs need to get involved in this to, being that the political will is there. We can surely see her determination to act, since similar problems have been identified. Therefore, we need a good dose of authority and patience to resolve this, as this has been building up for years. So, good luck in getting this famous dossier, which has not stopped traumatising our honest citizens, started.
acharif moulay abdellah bouskraoui Posted 2008-07-07
The government’s duty is to ensure that each minister deals with his ministries’ difficulties, as the goal is to have a competent administration that is in the service of the citizens. Such is the will of His Majesty, Mohamed VI, who always thinks about the good of his people.
وافق أصيل Posted 2008-07-09
In the name of God the most gracious, the most merciful. Health is a culture and policy. It is a culture established by society in the infrastructure while educating the individual through the family and then the curricula of the school. Afterwards it is through the distinct behaviour of society. Then policies come on top of the ascending scale to bear responsibility in the public order of the state. They are the thinking, planning and executing mind of the special trend implied by social data for every sector with all its details and characteristics. It is reflected in precise and methodical programmes as well as accurate scientific and logical methods. These are used to analyse the tools to achieve results or solutions and counter all the problematic issues before they grow into dilemmas which would need more time and huge financial, material and human resources to solve them. However, if they are dealt with at their beginning, their solution will be easier, at a shorter time and with the least efforts.
siham Posted 2008-09-12
This is incredible: a minister who is not a doctor herself cannot do anything for this field, save risking harming it. And, that is what we are seeing as of late. We must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. Even if she is spends her entire life trying to educate herself, this field is very complex. Before being economics or business, it is medicine. —Respectfully
elhayani Posted 2008-11-13
I believe that the definition of “health” as provided by the World Health Organisation is clear: it a state of physical, mental and social well-being, and not only the absence of a disease or infirmity. Certainly, this is good initiative on the part of the minister, but it must also not be forgotten to give more support to our national education and to our legal system in an effort to do away with illiteracy, be it in the urban or, more importantly, in the rural and female population. A well-educated woman is a woman who is going to adopt behaviour that does not harm her health or the health of her children. Furthermore, the legal system will guarantee an equitable distribution of wealth and ensure the good governance of the state’s human, material and financial resources. In short, in order to guarantee the population's best health, we must act on three axes: health, education and justice, therefore investing in human beings, the principal wealth of all nations. An example that we all know is Japan, which neither has oil nor gas and, from time to time, suffers earthquakes, yet has the world’s second-most powerful economy because of investing in human beings.
صالح مجدول Posted 2008-12-11
Opening a gynaecology service in the clinic of the municipality of Mediouna lacks the simplest hygiene conditions. Bribery is blatant. The head physician is almost always absent. It is said that he suffers from heart disease. The ambulance is always inoperative. Where are officials responsible for the health of citizens who come to the weekly market to eat grilled meat offered by the head physician who set up an association in order to chair it? He puts the health of citizens in uncertain hands. (Saleh Mejdoul).
magdal lahycen Posted 2009-02-04
Unfortunately, those who need to be remunerated are not. But, I trust in myself. I deserve to be admitted into the first-aid programme par excellence. Take a look at my internship and recruitment at the Institut de Formation aux Carrières de Santé (Institute for Healthcare Profession Education) in Agadir.
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