Rabat – It’s 2017 and rural Moroccans are still dying due to the absence of basic health-care.

The recent case of Idya Fakhreddine, a two-year-old little girl who died following a brain hemorrhage has sparked outrage among Moroccans. They stated that officials of the regional hospital, Moulay Ali Cherif, located in southeast Morocco, allowed her to die due to neglect.

Idya’s brain hemorrhage was caused by a fall during which she struck her head against the ground. She was immediately referred to her local hospital. However, the facility’s lack of medical equipment led her family to transfer her to the regional hospital of Moulay Ali Cherif.

The father of Idya told media that after being examined by a medical scanner, the doctor at Moulay Ali Cherif hospital had reassured him about his daughter’s case. He told the distraught father, “She is slightly broken in her skull,” before recommending him to transfer her to a hospital in Fez. Little Idya made the long journey to Fez, where she succumbed to her head injury one hour later.

The photo of Idya was shared widely by social media users, who expressed their dismay at the absence of proper, life-saving equipment in Moroccan hospitals. They said that the death of Idya was the result of “the medical negligence.” They maintained it was the absence of adequate medical equipment in the hospitals, which led Idya to be transported by an ambulance for 500 kilometers in search of a hospital where she could have been saved.

The civic society in Tinghir also condemned the case of Idya.

They have issued a communique regarding the status of hospitals in the region, saying that “Idya had a chance to be saved if the local hospitals were equipped with the necessary conditions.” They added that “the family members of Idya were obliged to transfer the deceased aboard an inappropriate ambulance.”





