Moroccan official recommends grating basic healthcare to sex workers

Casablanca- The Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) released yesterday the results of a study on the Moroccan healthcare sector. Ostensibly, the results are far from being comforting.

The study sheds light on the “deteriorating” health of mothers and children. "50% of newborns from teen mothers risk death," Hakima Himmich, CESE said according to the Moroccan daily Akhabr Al Youm.

The Council described RAMED (the Medical Assistance Plan) as “a failure,” for it does not benefit certain social groups including the homeless and sex workers.

The head of the Council, Nizar Baraka, recommends that the government to abolish the marriage of minors and confer RAMED to sex workers.

According to the same study, 50,000 teenagers gave birth in 2012. Faced with this alarming situation, the CESE “recommends that the government ban Article 20 of the Mudawana, which grants judges the legitimacy to authorize the marriage of minors.”

For its part, daily Al Khabar pinpoints the weaknesses of Morocco’s health sector, among which is the lack of nursing staff. The newspaper also notes that 143 health centers have been closed “due to lack of medical expertise.”

 For daily Assabah, "the health sector is at an impasse." According to the same source, the main reasons are “the inability to train enough doctors and nurses, the budget shortage and the emigration of doctors and nurses, especially to Europe.”

As to the private sector, the CESE notes "a steady progress." The sector encompasses nearly 50% of physicians, 90% of pharmacists and dentists and nearly 10% of paramedics. However, cities are where this sector is predominantly present.

CESE’s study on the health sector in Morocco rings alarm bells in the kingdom. Its publication comes at a critical phase in Benkirane’s freshly reshuffled government. The Executive has been subject to harsh criticism for “his unstudied measures and lack of vision concerning the management of social projects.

The results unveiled by CESE shook the dust off a vital sector that is on the edge of oblivion in Morocco. The results have now been imputed on the government’s current strategies and plans in the realm of healthcare, which seemingly hasten its deterioration rather than decelerate it.