Speaking on Monday, February 6 in the House of Representatives during the plenary session of oral questions, the Minister of Health and Social Protection underlined the glaring lack of human resources in the resuscitation services within health establishments, doubled of an inequitable distribution in the territory of the Kingdom. A finding that seriously weighs on citizens’ access to health care, mainly in the public sector.
According to him, Morocco has, to date, a total of 196 anesthesiologists in the public sector, against 222 during the Covid-19 period, while 462 others operate in the private sector, i.e. a total of 658 anesthesiologists. A total of 296 others are being trained.
Another striking discrepancy between the public and private sector, according to Ait Taleb, is that relating to the concentration of anesthesiologists and resuscitators in the Casablanca axis (213 doctors) or 50%, Rabat (88 doctors) and Marrakech (44 doctors). This state is far from promoting equitable access to care, he noted.
Although the supervisory authority is working to meet the challenge of training in the specialty of resuscitation, it still faces another challenge, that of bridging the public-private gap. In other words, attract more doctors from the private sector to the public.
That said, the Kingdom is far from meeting the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), i.e. 6 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, because it currently only has one doctor per 100,000 inhabitants. .