Indeed, Morocco has been facing a shortage of health professionals for several years, highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on World Health Organization standards, the National Council for Human Rights reported that the shortage in the number of health professionals is estimated at more than 32,000 doctors, with only 23,000 in practice. Morocco also needs more than 65,000 health professionals (nurses, technicians…), the Council estimates.
“Despite the efforts made, the State is still not able to guarantee health security to citizens, in all its economic, social, environmental and cultural dimensions, either in terms of access to health services or in terms of developing a health strategy that meets national needs. This is the main conclusion of the report “Effectiveness of the right to health: challenges, issues and ways to strengthen”, released last Friday by the CNDH.
Carried out following several consultation meetings in six regions, this document exposes the various dysfunctions and constraints hindering the right of access to health. It cites, as such, the lack of a coordinated care pathway (CHP) and inadequate management of human resources.
Public sector doctors concentrated in the Casablanca-Settat region
The report also points out that the distribution by region shows that health professionals are mainly concentrated in the Casablanca-Settat region where their number amounts to 2,990. Then come the regions of Fez-Meknes (1,749), Rabat-Salé-Kénitra (1,688), Marrakech-Safi (1,658), the Oriental (1,048) and Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (870). On the other hand, doctors are less present in the regions of Souss-Massa (584), Beni Mellal-Khénifra (575), Drâa-Tafilalet (395), Guelmim-Oued Noun (216), Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra (181) and Dakhla-Oued Eddahab (80).
In addition, paramedical professionals are grouped mainly in four regions, namely Rabat-Salé-Kénitra (4,962), Casablanca-Settat (4,862), Fez-Meknes (4,390) and Marrakech-Safi (4,080).
The Council adds that due to this unequal distribution, many citizens do not have access to care, which contributes to the phenomenon of abandonment of health services.
A growing need
The CNDH also warned that the need for human resources is likely to increase rapidly due to the generalization of health coverage, population growth, the aging of society and the spread of chronic and long-term diseases.
The same report takes stock of the hemorrhaging of doctors and health executives. The statistics estimate that out of the 23,000 Moroccan doctors practicing in Morocco, between 10 and 14 thousand are working abroad, particularly in Europe.
The urgency of training
The CNDH believes that today Morocco has an urgent need to train a large number of doctors and health professionals annually, noting that the project to train 3,300 doctors per year, which was approved by the government in 2007 by 2020, has not achieved its goal. Indeed, in 2019 and 2020 the number of trained doctors oscillated between 2,100 and 2,200 only, of which more than 600 to 700 migrated abroad.
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