By Sara Elhamdaoui
By Sara Elhamdaoui
Rabat – The Ministry of Health announced that the Bouya Omar operation is officially over on June 27. The first phase of a national plan that aims to reintegrate mentally ill individuals into society consisted of evacuating those who had been held at the Bouya Omar Mausoleum. In the second phase, as part of “Karama” initiative, patients will be examined, provided with medical care, and given assistance in integrating into society.
According to the Ministry’s communiqué, the operation took charge of 795 mentally ill individuals, hosting them and their families, who also received psychological assistance. The social center of Bouya Omar provided the patients with showers, haircuts, and clothing before presenting them to both medical doctors and psychiatrists.
Centers and hospitals for mental and psychological illnesses, it was noted, are currently under construction in Agadir, Kenitra, and Kelaat Sraghna. Each hospital will contain up to 120 beds and will be adequately equipped to provide patients with medical care. In the Bouya Omar region, a medical complex including both psychological and social services will be built to accommodate mentally ill patients and provide them with medical care, therapy, and social services, as well as offering psychological assistance to their families.
The Ministry will create hospital services with a capacity of 30 beds each, in addition to those already in operation in Bouarfa, Chefchaoun, Al Aroui, and Tiznit, The plan also calls for the rehabilitation of Berrechid hospital, the opening of a new wing in the psychiatric hospital of Tit Mellil with a capacity of 18 beds, and an integrated service with 30 beds within Ben M’sik Provincial Hospital in Casablanca.
The importance of developing human resources specializing in psychiatry was stressed in the communique, along with the need for allocating an adequate budget to both basic medications and psychotherapeutic medications of the second and third generation.
The Ministry expressed its thanks to all those who had contributed to the success of the operation. It also expressed its gratitude towards the Chourafas (descendants of Prophet Mohammed PBUH) of Bouya Omar who welcomed and appreciated the initiative and provided their full support to ensure its success. They were convinced by the relevance and importance of this operation to preserve the dignity of the patients as well as the aura of the mausoleum.
