The collective resignation came while medical students were protesting over the Ministry of Health’s agreements with private medical schools.
Rabat – After threatening, around 305 doctors in Morocco’s Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region submitted their resignation letters on Thursday in protest over what they called “the deterioration of the health system in the Tangier region and the absence of [proper] work conditions in public hospitals.”
According to a petition addressed to the Ministry of Health regional director in Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, “the move came in view of the catastrophic conditions the health sector is experiencing, which does not meet the scientific conditions in force internationally.”
The doctors argued, “The health sector does not live up to the citizens’ aspirations and expectations to ensure their right to treatment as a constitutional right in addition to the absence of social dialogue by officials.”
The doctors have gone on several marches in protest of their work conditions and calling for improvements to the health system and a rise in wages.
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They accuse the government of disrespecting their rights and blame it for what they call the failure of the health sector. The doctors say the sector is entering “the heart attack phase.”
The move came at the same time as medical students are protesting the Ministry of Health’s agreements with private medical schools, which they call “a blow to the meritocracy principle, the equality of chances, and a threat to the training quality in the university hospitals.”
In October 2018, approximately 130 doctors left the health sector in the Casablanca-Settat; 40 doctors resigned in the Oriental region; and 30 doctors quit in Ouarzazate province.
