After the strike movement carried out last May, professionals are preparing to desert public hospitals for three days a week, with the exception of emergency and intensive care services, on June 11, 12 and 13, as well as the June 25, 26 and 27. They are also planning regional and local protest rallies. In addition, demonstrators will march in front of Parliament after the Eid Al-Adha holiday. The date of this sit-in will be announced later, according to the National Union Coordination of the Health Sector which includes eight union organizations.
The Coordination also threatens a broad boycott that includes health programs and their reports, mobile units and medical convoys, planned non-urgent surgical interventions, specialized hospital examinations, meetings with administrations of all kinds, and training courses. training, with a view to trying to get the government to react, something which would have a considerable impact on access to care in the various hospitals in the Kingdom.
Promises to honor
The unions involved in discussions with the supervisory authority call, in this regard, for the application of the agreements and minutes signed with the unions in their material and legal aspects, and the preservation of all the rights and achievements of professionals in the field. Health, including the status of civil servant, the management of salaries from the general budget and all the guarantees of the general status of the Civil Service.
Dr Ali Farissi, Coordinator of the National Commission of Internal and Resident Physicians, underlines in particular the need to increase the compensation of interns and residents, currently at around 3,500 dirhams, and to provide adequate protection, in particular health insurance.
The Union Coordination insists on increasing compensation for professional risks for nurses, health technicians and administrative and technical staff, in accordance with the signed agreements. In addition, health workers are demanding a general increase in salaries for all professionals, including nurses, administrative, medical and paramedical staff, taking into account planned changes in the health system.
The same Coordination stressed the need to no longer confuse compensation for professional risks for certain health categories with the demand for a general increase in salaries for all professionals, from which they should all benefit in the same way as other sectors, in particular in light of the changes promised with the creation of territorial health groups. In the view of the unions, “the proper implementation of health reform will not be possible without health professionals”.
“Being the cornerstone of the health system, health workers must be at the heart of the reform through concrete actions targeting their material and professional working conditions,” underlines the Union Coordination.
“These measures will allow the department of Ait Taleb to establish its projects of generalization of basic medical coverage and that of the reform of the sector on a solid basis and for professionals to access their rights,” notes the union, estimating that such progress would be able to boost the attractiveness of health professions in a context where the massive exodus of doctors and nurses poses a real crisis on the health system.
The dialogue continues
Faced with the concerns of health professionals, the responsible minister, Khalid Ait Taleb, reassured that the dialogue sessions with the unions representative of the sector would continue, until the expected results were obtained.
“We were able to address a set of questions that had been pending for 10 years, and the work continued in 2023 with the establishment of a set of laws, with the contribution and consultation of trade union organizations,” said – he said, emphasizing the ministry’s determination to publish the implementing texts.
That said, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection is predisposed to respond to all of the demands of those concerned and therefore to honor its commitments, apart from those having a financial impact, being linked to the financial commitments of the State, and require the arbitration of the Head of Government, according to Khalid Ait Taleb who says he is optimistic about the future of health professionals. However, the unions still insist on accelerating this process in order to satisfy their demands and avoid any impact on access to health care. At present, the supervisory ministry has not yet reacted to the dissatisfaction of professionals.
