Rabat – Morocco’s National Organization for Human Rights and the Fight Against Corruption has called on the Ministry of Health to release a comprehensive report regarding the deaths of patients at the Moulay Youssef Hospital in Rabat.
The organization shared a statement with Morocco World News (MWN) on Tuesday, criticizing the ministry’s remarks regarding the deaths of patients while noting that the health department should be held responsible for transparency and credibility in addressing such cases.
“We raise several precise and technical questions that we believe the Ministry must answer in detail, ensuring full disclosure of the facts and accountability for those responsible,” the statement said.
The organization urged the ministry to confirm that the deaths of the patients were solely due to medical complications.
This comes in the wake of reports last week indicating that four patients had died at the Moulay Youssef Hospital due to oxygen supply failure.
On Saturday, however, the ministry insisted that the deaths were not caused by a technical failure. Instead, the ministry claimed, two patients died due to complications from their underlying conditions.
But the ministry did acknowledge that an investigation had determined that the hospital’s intensive care unit experienced a sudden technical failure in the oxygen supply system on Tuesday morning.
Read also: MP Calls for Parliamentary Debate on ICU Conditions Following Deaths at Moulay Youssef Hospital
The oxygen supply system “resumed normal operation” within approximately forty minutes, the statement said, noting that all patients in the affected unit continued to receive oxygen through mobile oxygen cylinders
But the NGO, unconvinced by the ministry’s statement, asked the ministry whether to release all findings regarding the results and procedure of the autopsies conducted on the bodies. “How does the ministry explain the continued deaths of patients while the oxygen supply failure persisted? Was there any delay or shortage in oxygen supply during that period?” the NGO questioned.
It also raised several other questions, notably asking whether the families of the patients were provided with detailed reports on the causes of their deaths.
“Can the ministry publish a comprehensive report about the incident, including the actions taken during the critical moments of the oxygen failure and how losses were addressed or handled,” the NGO queried, citing several recommendations for future prevention.
The ministry should ensure regular and systematic maintenance of all critical medical equipment in hospitals, including the oxygen supply systems, it said, concluding “The incident at Moulay youssef Hospital requires decisive action from all parties involved, including the government and relevant health ministries.”
News of the patients’ death has sparked heated debate on social media.
Earlier this week, Moroccan MP Rachid Rahmouni called for an urgent parliamentary debate on the quality of services and resources in the country’s intensive care units.
Hamouni, who is the head of the Progress and Socialism Parliamentary Group, called on the parliament to allow his team to take the floor to discuss this urgent issue.
“This request is timely in light of recent public discussions regarding a technical malfunction that affected the oxygen supply system at the Moulay Youssef Hospital in Rabat, which may have been a direct or indirect cause,” he said.
