Health Workers Reject Morocco’s Privatization of Public Health Services

Doha – The National Coordination of Officials and Executives of Morocco’s Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MSPS) issued an urgent national statement on September 15, calling on health workers in the public sector and all citizens to unite against the threat of privatization of Morocco’s public health system.

The statement warns that current government policies, particularly in the health sector, aim to hand over public health to the private sector.

According to the coordination, this poses a serious threat to the foundations of healthcare, especially for vulnerable groups, and to the welfare state the government has long touted.

“The government’s main objective in the health field is to make a profit at the expense of citizens’ health and dignity, which will lead to a deterioration in the quality of health services provided,” the statement reads. “We call on you to realize the magnitude of the imminent danger that threatens the public health facility.”

As the Coordination sees it, the rights of health sector employees, especially the status of civil servants and the centrality of salaries, and citizens’ rights to good treatment at reasonable prices are interconnected and inseparable.

They argue the current state of universal health coverage is unable to meet the growing demand for health services, and the government has exploited this situation to pass privatization policies serving private sector lobbies.

As a result, the Coordination has called on all health sector workers to unite and mobilize within their coordination to achieve the desired goals. “We are required to be vigilant and show solidarity to confront this attack on our rights and gains, in light of the complicity of some parties with the government to pass these unjust policies,” the statement urges.

The Coordination announced it is in the process of developing an escalating protest program that includes steps and measures to be announced soon, with the aim of restoring rights and gains and correcting the course.

This is especially pressing if the government does not retract Laws No. 39.21, 08.22, and 209.22, which they say represent an assault on the regulatory and administrative status of health sector employees.

As a first step, the Coordination calls on all MSPS employees to effectively wear a badge bearing the phrase “My Job is a Red Line” in all decentralized departments of the ministry, as well as in all public health facilities, starting from the publication of this statement. They also urge boycotting all monthly reports, including health program reports.

The Coordination has also urged all human rights bodies, civil society components, and all forces defending public utilities, especially health, to support their demands, stand by their side in defending what they call a just cause, and confront the plan to privatize the health sector.

“In conclusion, we affirm that we in the Coordination are committed to continuing the struggle to achieve our legitimate goals and defend them, no matter what sacrifices this requires,” the statement concludes. “What does not come through struggle… comes with more struggle. Rights are seized, not given.”