Rabat – Mehdi Echafai, better known as the “poor’s people doctor” is not done with the provincial hospital in Tiznit, near Agadir.
Despite being fined MAD 20,000 on August 5 for libel and defamation of the Tiznit Provincial Hospital’s chief, the Moroccan pediatric surgeon is not afraid to speak out again about the work conditions and the “dysfunctional system” of the hospital.
In a viral video posted on his Facebook page Tuesday, the 34-year-old practitioner who resigned has spoken out about his reunion with the chief department denouncing again his behavior.
“We came after our leave to do our duty, but since the authorities took no action against the director of the hospital, he came to make fun of me indirectly, not leaving me to perform my tasks,” shouted the pediatric surgeon, filming himself from the hospital’s operating room.
The doctor angrily called for help from the leaders of the sector to come and solve the dysfunctional system of the hospital.
The video has been widely circulating on social media, generating more than 430,000 views and hundred of comments supporting the doctor’s statement.
Beginning in 2017, Echafai carried out more than 560 free operations for the poorest patients in 8 months in the same hospital, before he decided to resign on July 23 in the midst of defamation hearings.
The doctor earned his nickname for helping hundreds of families treat their children.
Echafai submitted a complaint to the health minister to protest “corruption” on July 25, deploring the “many dysfunctions of the health sector in general” and the “corruption that is commonplace within the hospital center.”
In his resignation letter, he denounced the fact he was asked to give “illegal treatment” in his surgical duties, which negatively affected his family and health.
Following Echafai’s accusations, the ministry issued a statement explaining that the surgeon “made administrative errors” that led to him being sent to a disciplinary council. The ministry noted the doctor’s right to defense by lawyers had been respected.
