Officials inaugurated the new unit at the Mohammed VI Hospital to meet the needs of rising COVID-19 cases
Rabat – Officials in Tangier opened a new medical unit On Thursday, August 13, to meet the needs of rising COVID-19 cases.
The new unit, inaugurated at the Mohammed VI Hospital, consists of 48 beds in individual rooms. This new unit will be supervised by a team of doctors and nurses from the University Hospital Centre (CHU) in Tangier.
The Tangier medical unit was constructed in less than a week. The unit will be able to manage moderate and severe COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Ouafae Ajnaou, Regional Director of Health in Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, told Morocco’s state media that the facility will “enable health authorities to deal with recent cases of contamination at Covid-19 that go to hospitals in Tangier.”
Each new room is equipped with respiratory machines and vital sign monitors.
These rooms will be dedicated to patients who require immediate administration of oxygen, particularly “patients suffering from chronic diseases and elderly people whose state of health requires intensive care,” Dr. Ajnaou explained.
The director of Mohammed VI Hospital, Dr. Mounir Marrakchi, added that the hospital has been strengthened by the completion of the new unit.
He applauds the unit’s dedication to the care of COVID-19 patients whose state of health requires intensive care, especially those in need of oxygen.
COVID-19 cases requiring medical supervision will be handled at the unit level, while serious and critical cases will be transferred to the three resuscitation units in Tangier.
Dr. Ajnoua hopes that this unit will alleviate the pressure on the hospitals’ intensive care units, whose capacity is estimated at 73 beds.
Opening this COVID-19-specific unit in Tangier aims to free the beds of the intensive care units for those patients whose state of health requires these services, she added.
This additional capacity will enable patients to be cared for in the best possible conditions, Dr. Ajnaou stressed. Tangier continues to see a spike in new cases, reporting about a quarter of the country’s infections.
Dr. Ajoua reiterated the importance of citizens to respect preventive measures, noting that social distancing, hand-washing, and strict usage of face masks in public spaces are the easiest ways to combat this virus and reduce the number of critical cases.
