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Join on Telegram Casablanca — The Moroccan Ministry of Health on Wednesday held a round table to discuss the health of migrants in Morocco, and what the government can do to provide essential services to migrants in the country.
The round table, held under the theme “Health of Migrants: An Important Lever for Multisectoral Integration in Morocco,” was held on December 21 in Rabat, as part of the celebration of International Migrant’s Day, which takes place on December 18 each year.
A communiqué released by the Ministry of Health reveals that “this meeting aims to sensitize and mobilize the various ministerial departments concerned to discuss the interventions needed to improve access to care for immigrants living on Moroccan soil and to discuss the challenges to be met in order to provide the appropriate socio-economic conditions necessary to improve their living conditions and, hence, their state of health.”
The statement further reminds that the Ministry of Health has been proactive since 2003 in an effort to support migrants and provide free primary health services in all of the nation’s health centers, including preventive care, general medical consultations and various national health programs.
“Over the course of 2015,” the statement continues, “approximately 15,000 medical consultations were observed in the Rabat-Salé Kenitra health centers.”
“More than 500 immigrants benefited from the national pregnancy program, more than 520 migrant children benefited from the national vaccination program and approximately 1250 immigrants benefited from the national program agains STDs and AIDS,” the communiqué adds.
According to the same source, Ministry of Health also signed a framework convention with various other national ministries to help provide basic medical coverage for regular immigrants, coverage that would essentially mirror the “RAMED” Medical Assistance Plan currently in place.
Minister of Health Houcine El Ouardi, reports the Maghreb Arab Press (MAP), has stated that “all efforts made by the Ministry of Health to promote the health of migrant populations in Morocco are fully part of the process of implementing the new royal guidelines and the national strategy of immigration and asylum.”
