Friday, May 31, 2024 at 1:01 p.m.
Rabat – The importance of integrating the patient, as an influential actor, in health decision-making was at the center of a meeting organized on Friday in Rabat, on the occasion of the 10th national congress of pharmacoeconomics and pharmacoepidemiology.
Organized by the Moroccan Society for the Economy of Health Products (SMEPS), under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, this event aims to highlight the crucial importance of the patient’s voice and of its unique experience in improving healthcare and creating a constructive dialogue between patients, healthcare professionals, decision-makers and other stakeholders in this field.
The development and implementation of health policies must systematically incorporate the perspectives of patients, so that their voices are taken into account in the planning and delivery of health services, stressed SMEPS President Samir Ahid, who spoke at the opening of this congress under the theme “Place of the patient’s voice in health systems”.
In recent years, a significant transformation has been observed in the health decision-making process, he noted, noting that today, “we are witnessing a paradigm shift, where the role of the patient and his unique experience of illness and care are highlighted”.
The involvement of the patient’s voice in the health system is an evolving field, marked by notable progress and specific challenges, he noted, emphasizing that patients, distributed between associations and federations, are becoming privileged interlocutors with the government and social development actors.
To evolve the health decision-making process, it is important that patient representatives play a central role, noted Mr. Ahid, emphasizing the need to strengthen institutional capacities to create formal mechanisms for patient participation, such as hospital advisory boards and health product evaluation committees.
He noted, however, that challenges remain, particularly in terms of legislation and health policies which must be adapted to support and formalize patient engagement, stressing the importance of undertaking concrete actions so that the voice of patients is legally recognized in advisory committees and treatment reimbursement decisions.
Morocco has taken an important step with the reform of social protection, including the generalization of Compulsory Health Insurance (AMO) to all Moroccan citizens and the overhaul of the national health system, he noted.
Mr. Ahid explained that these measures, aimed at improving the provision of health care in the Kingdom, represent an opportunity to integrate new decision support tools through the involvement of the patient’s voice.
Organized in partnership with ISPOR Maghreb CHAPTER and the pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics research team, this two-day event sees the participation of national and international experts from 15 countries, as well as representatives of several interministerial departments, learned societies and patient associations.
