Doctors in Morocco’s Public Sector to Strike August 15 and August 16

Rabat – The Independent Union of Public Sector Physicians (SIMSP) has called for public doctors to strike, continuing the crisis in Morocco’s medical sector.

The strikes will be effective today, August 15, and tomorrow, August 16. Three more strikes are also scheduled for August 19, August 22, and August 23, according to SIMSP.

The union added that emergency and resuscitation services will not be affected by the strikes. However, the strike will affect health centers, clinics and all public health structures in Morocco, with the exception of university hospital centers.

This is the second strike by doctors in the public sector this summer, followinga five-day strike in July.

“We continue our fight after the week of anger we organized from July 22nd to 28th. We will observe 5 days of strike during this month of August because we still do not have a response from the government,” said the Secretary-General of SIMSP, Dr. Abdellah El Mountadar Alaoui.

According to SIMPS, 1,500 doctors will also resign in conjunction with the strike.

The union is demanding better pay and working conditions for doctors in the public sector. SIMSP wants action to be taken now to improve working conditions and patient management “to preserve human dignity and the constitutional right to health.”

Among a list of other demands, SIMSP is calling for an increase in wages, additional benefits, and “the provision of security in public health institutions in response to growing verbal and physical attacks on staff.”

The protests and strikes began in 2017, and have gained further momentum this year. On April 29, hundreds of doctors demonstrated outside parliament in Rabat.

In April, close to 300 doctors resigned in the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region citing; “the deterioration of the health system in the Tangier region and the absence of [proper] work conditions in public hospitals.”