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Rabat – The number of health workers in Morocco is disproportionately low compared to the overall size of the population, the country’s Court of Audits laments in a new report.
As of the end of 2021, the number of health workers per 1,000 capita stood at 1.64, way below the 4.45 minimum necessary to reach sustainable development goals set by the United Nations (UN), the report finds, adding that the rate varies widely across the country’s different regions.
Assessing Morocco’s healthcare infrastructure, the report explains that the country made significant strides over the past decade in diversifying its healthcare offer and guaranteeing citizens’ access to healthcare services. The government built additional medical facilities, but the number remains insufficient to reach the country’s sustainable development goals.
In 2020, the number of doctors reached 25.575, with 11.953 working in the public sector, and 13.622, up from a mere 19.444 in 2011, says the report.
Despite the rise in the overall number of health workers, their proportion per capita did not see any notable improvement, the report notes, adding that the number of workers per 10,000 capita went from 15.1 to 16.4 between 2011 and 2020.
The sub-optimal improvement is due to the rise in the number of doctors in the private sector, as it climbed from 2.5 per 10,000 capita in 2011 to 3.8 in 2020. In contrast, the number of doctors in the public sector dropped from 3.6 to 3.3 over the nine years covered in the report.
Responding to the alarming data, Morocco’s health ministry said that the drop in the number of doctors in the public sector is caused by the fact that the public healthcare sector is “not attractive” for doctors.
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In the same report, the Court of Audit stresses the need for addressing the territorial disparity in the public healthcare services offering.
According to the court, even the rise in the number of healthcare workers only benefited a limited number of regions, including the Guelmim-Ouad-Noun, which saw a 79% rise in the number of health workers, followed by Dakhla-Ouad-Dahab with a 158% increase.
On the other hand, other regions saw a notable decline in the number of health professionals such as the Rabat-Sale-Kenitra which saw a 7% drop in the number of health workers, and Beni-Mellal-Khenifra with a 3% decrease.
