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Rabat- King Mohammed VI has said that foreigners wishing to invest in the Moroccan health sector must share their expertise with Moroccan youth to help them benefit their country.
On Friday, during a speech at Parliament for the opening of the new legislative year, King Mohammed VI proposed a win-win solution to create more job opportunities for Moroccan youth.
The King addressed the possibility of “opening some sectors and jobs which are currently unlicensed for foreigners in the health sector,” with the condition that they share their professional expertise to benefit the country’s youth and increase employment opportunities in all sectors.
The King noted that some international healthcare experts have expressed a growing interest in investing in Morocco.
Regarding Morocco’s brain drain, the monarch stated that “there are tempting incentives which induce some students to remain abroad after completing their studies.”
The new initiative aims to improve the quality of services and make Morocco more competitive to highly qualified Moroccan youth who might not return to the country otherwise.
This initiative is another example of the government’s efforts to ensure equal job opportunities, increase youth integration and lower the unemployment rate. The King stated that the “employment of youth is at the heart” of the country’s interests.
The monarch stressed the importance of “establishing a link between vocational training programs and general education courses within a unified, integrated system,” and providing a balanced ground between theoretical and practical training.
“Vocational training is a powerful lever for employment, provided it receives the attention it deserves and so long as it is given a new status as well as a broader scope,” the King said.
Morocco’s ailing healthcare system has driven many qualified doctors and physicians to emigrate to foreign countries.
Read Also: King Mohammed VI Speech at Fall Legislative Session October 12
Many Moroccan doctors point to poor working conditions, inadequate pay, and under-equipped hospitals as reasons that they would rather leave. Instead of facing such prospects, Moroccan medical professionals are increasingly choosing to remain abroad, even though the nation is in dire need of medical services.
On October 1, Morocco’s Independent Union of Public Sector Doctors published a statement condemning the “critical” situation of the health sector in the country, including the lack of appropriate infrastructure.
The union also denounced health center closures, which deprives the public of services, as well as the minimal amount that the government’s budget allots to the health sector, “which falls within 5 percent.”
The statement emphasized that at least 10 percent of the government budget should be spent on health in accordance with the World Health Organization’s recommendations.
