Rabat – Doctors from the private sector in Morocco went on strike today, urging the government for fair health coverage for their sector and protesting the cost of sector-wide health insurance. Private clinics nationwide closed their doors with only emergency rooms continuing to operate.
Private-sector health workers are protesting their own personal health coverage, demanding coverage without an initial contribution, which is currently based on government reference rates originally set in 2006.
Doctors are protesting Decree 2.21.290, which according to them “does not meet their expectations and lacks fairness.”
The national strike comes in response to the calls of five unions: the National Union of General Medicine in the Private Sector (SNMG), the National Union of Doctors of the Liberal Sector (SNMSL), the National Trade Union College of Private Medical Specialists, the National Association of Private Clinics of Morocco (ANCP), and the National Federation of Doctors and Dental Surgeons in the Private Sector (FNSMMDM).
The five unions representing private doctors warned that if Aziz Akhenouch’s government failed to respond to their demands, they aim to intensify their protests in the coming weeks.
A member of the Federal Council of Dentists’ Unions in Morocco’s private sector told a local news outlet that the government did not take into account “new doctors who will be obliged to pay a monthly amount in order to benefit from the coverage.”
The trade unions demand health coverage without an initial contribution.
They lament the government failing to take into account the situation of part-time health professionals. These professionals are often female doctors who work fewer hours than males, as well as doctors with chronic diseases that do not allow them to work all day, the same source noted.
The trade unions are calling for the government to conduct an in-depth study and consult with the professional groups concerned, while urging the government to revise the national reference fares as well as the renewal of the national agreements signed in 2006 between the trade unions, the insurance funds and the National Health Insurance Agency (ANAM) under the supervision of the Ministry of Health.
Morocco’s national reference fares set in 2006 has not been modified since, although the law stipulates a triennial review.
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