The minister of trade, Moulay Hafid Elalamy, said the project is part of the country’s vision to promote local production.
Rabat – Morocco’s Ministry of Trade presented a new Moroccan-made intensive care bed, with international standards in terms of safety and performance.
The ICU bed is the fruit of cooperation between the Ministry of Industry, engineering office, and technical centers.
The new invention seeks to face the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) reported that the project “represents a visible and accessible alternative to imported beds.”
Morocco’s ministry pledged that the project will be available at a competitive cost. It seeks to work to cover the shortage of the type of beds in certain regions of the world, as well as possibly supply other countries, especially in Africa.
The project also seeks to meet the national needs for equipment and supplies intended for the health sector and to support Morocco’s guidelines to promote local production.
Morocco’s Minister of Industry, Moulay Hafid Elalamay, welcomed the Moroccan project, which is “30 % to 75% cheaper than what is imported from the international market.”
Elalamy spoke about the importance of “promoting national production which can be a substitute for imports.”
“We import today MAD 183 billion per year of products in all areas,” he said, emphasizing that the ministry has identified a project bank of MAD 34 billion ($3.6 billion) of products that the country can produce instead of importing equipment.
“These products that are imported in currency can today be made with national currency and especially with Moroccan labor.”
General manager of Altran in Morocco and MG2 Engineering Idriss Elasri also expressed satisfaction with the new invention.
“More than 10,000 hours of work and nearly 50 collaborative meetings in videoconference mode were necessary to achieve this result, despite the containment and application of barrier measures as well as the rules of distancing,” he said.
Elasri said the bed complies with international standards to ensure patient safety.
The inventors had nine weeks to develop the prototype project, which has a metal structure designed in 3D.
Morocco’s intensive care bed integrates existing solutions to the market to allow nursing staff to perform the necessary intervention for patients in intensive care.
Several teams contributed to the success of the project, including, Maroc Bureau, GroupElec Enigma, Richbond, Aviarail, EFOA, the Center for Studies and Research of the Metallurgical, and Electrical and Electronic Industries.
