Morocco is taking care of its future. It’s medical future, that is. By the year 2020 Morocco will be training 3,300 doctors. At the present, only 900 students are enrolled in medical schools. The World Health Organization has put Morocco on the list of countries that have a shortage of healthcare professionals. Beginning with the 2008-2009 academic year, at least 1,300 students will be enrolled in pharmacy and medical schools.
Prime Minister, Driss Jettou watched as the Ministers of Health, Education and Finance signed an agreement to support this initiative. The plan is to increase the ratio of doctors to the population from 5.1 doctors per 10,000 people to 10. Included, is an improvement plan for the distribution of health care to all of Morocco’s residents. Rural areas are in need of healthcare services as the largest percentage of doctors is in the cities. It is suggested that incentive programs might be put into place to entice new doctors to practice in rural areas.
The Minister of Education, Habib El Malki told the gathering that the government had done assessment of the national healthcare services it now provides. The initiative to train more doctors is a step in closing the gaps found in the survey and supporting Morocco’s economic and social growth. His counterpart, Minister of Health is not only looking into ways to solve the uneven distribution of doctors, he is ensuring that the medical and pharmacy schools will receive the support needed to train the greater numbers of future doctors. He said that the academic institutions would receive the funding needed to upgrade facilities, improve training courses and recruit needed staff for the increase in students.
Those already in the healthcare field, welcomed the news of increased numbers of doctor trainees. They have encouraged the government to pay more to the healthcare services. Demands for healthcare have been rising, putting a strain on the already busy medical professionals. Some expressed agreement that it is high time that Morocco put more emphasis on this problem. They said that while the alarm was sounded a long time ago, they are glad the government of Morocco is now facing the challenge.
