“Bleeding doctors” in Morocco.. Why the crisis escalates?

In contrast to the significant shortage noted in the number of health human resources in Morocco, a new report reveals that the Kingdom loses 500 to 700 doctors annually, representing 30 percent of the total number of doctors graduating annually. Foreign immigration.

The report is published under the titleBrain Drain in the Medical Sector in Morocco.. Threats or Opportunities?These mass migrations include all groups working in the health sector: specialist doctors, professors and students, and will lead to “increasing” the shortage in the number of doctors in the country.

A study prepared by the “Foundation of Medical Professors in the Free Sector” indicated that Morocco’s efforts to address this shortage by recruiting 3,000 doctors annually “have not achieved the desired goals”. From the global average. The World Health Organization urges countries to achieve a ratio of 7.8 doctors per 10,000 people to 15.3 doctors.

In contrast to rising rates of immigration of medical talent, the same source explains, only 50 foreign doctors have joined Moroccan hospitals in a full year.

“Bleeding Doctors”

The latest figures from the Ministry of Health confirm the study’s data, as of December last year, 28,892 doctors were practicing their work in Morocco, which is a third of locally graduated doctors practicing their work in Western countries.

It states that the reasons that drive doctors to migrate are mainly the search for a better working environment and a better future, especially in terms of salary, opportunities and quality of life, while other social problems are associated with a negative image of doctors. Society pushes them to take the decision to leave.

In this regard, the study confirms that although European countries, which urgently need one and a half million doctors, have adopted an attractive policy to attract foreign doctors, including Morocco, Rabat has not taken serious measures to face and reduce or reverse this phenomenon. Of course.

Officials and government agencies in Morocco have previously warned of the dangers of “bleeding doctors,” said Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Abdollatif Al-Mirawi, in this regard. opinions Previously, “half of the 1,400 doctors who graduate annually immigrate to Europe”, which presents “major challenges” for the health system in Morocco.

Turn, reveal A statement Last year, the National Council for Human Rights published a “significant shortfall” in the level of health workers, which revealed Morocco’s need for 32,000 additional doctors, and more than 65,000 health professionals, in the fields of nursing and medical care.

The paper pointed out that apart from migration abroad, what is described as “internal migration” represents a serious phenomenon that threatens the quality of health care services in the public sector. .

‘A Dangerous Problem’

Al-Tayeb Hamidi, a physician and researcher on health policies and systems in Morocco, explains that the migration of medical talent is a “worrisome problem” for the health sector in Morocco and other countries. Its weak human resources.

In a statement to Al-Hurra, the president of the National Syndicate of General Medicine said the immigration problem will intensify in the coming years, increasing the demand for doctors from major Western countries, which is “exhausting”. Capabilities of the South, recalling recent study statistics, 70 percent of final year medical students in Morocco expressed their desire to emigrate.

The same spokesperson explains that the current deficit will affect the health programs launched by Rabat, which relies on the sector in plans to generalize social security by 2025 and expand Moroccans’ access to health services.

In this aspect, my acid highlights that comprehensive health coverage programs and the generalization of compulsory sickness insurance will increase the number of people who want to benefit from various health services, which will impose “new challenges in light of the aforementioned scarcity”.

In response to these problems, the Moroccan government is encouraging doctors to stay by approving salary increases, bringing foreign doctors into the profession and considering doubling the number of medical graduates.

In this regard, Hamidi calls for the need to accelerate the adoption and proposal of solutions and laws to face the existing deficit and avoid its increase in recent years. By supporting training in the medical field in these countries, the nurses who attract them are the Southern Mediterranean.