Following the resignation of over 300 doctors in Tangier, another 123 doctors in the region of Beni Mellal have collectively left their jobs. Do more resignations lie ahead?

Mohammed Amine Benabou is a BA holder in English Studies and an MA student majoring in Cultural Studies and Linguistics at the English Department, Ibn-Tofail University.

Rabat – A total of 123 doctors in Morocco under the umbrella of the Independent Syndicate of Public Sector Doctors (SIMSP) resigned Friday, April 26.

Submitted to the regional director of the Ministry of Health’s department in Beni Mellal, central Morocco, the resignation lists 123 doctors who chose to walk out in disapproval of the “catastrophic and off-putting conditions that affect the public health sector.”

The conditions, the letter read, do not meet appropriate scientific requirements. The doctors also cited their “conviction that this sorry condition does not help us to fully carry out our duties.”

They added that the services do not live up to the expectations of Moroccan citizens and that they can no longer be blamed for the “failure” of those in charge to guarantee citizens’ rights to healthcare under the Constitution.

The collective action followed the resignation of over 300 public sector doctors in the region of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima last week, 50 in the oriental region, and 30 others in the city of Ouarzazate.

El Mountadar Alaoui, the secretary general for the SIMSP, promised that more doctors are set on handing in their notice “if the government does not respond to our demands, namely improving the working conditions in hospitals and providing the necessary equipment and an adequate number of personnel.”

Doctors are planning to protest and strike from staffing hospitals on April 29 and 30, with the exception of intensive care and emergency units.