In a Monday interview, Health Minister Amine Tahraoui discussed the Agadir hospital deaths and the ongoing investigation, outlined plans to expand university hospitals and upgrade health facilities, addressed investment incentives for the private health sector, and clarified the context of a viral video from a recent field visit. Amid ongoing calls for better healthcare services voiced by the youth-led protest movement GenZ 212, Morocco's Minister of Health, Amine Tahraoui, appeared on 2M on Monday, October 6, to address mounting concerns over the sector. Addressing what has become one of the most sensitive issues for his department, Tahraoui commented on his ministry's decision to suspend several individuals following the deaths of eight patients at Agadir Regional Hospital, pending judicial and administrative investigations. «I gave instructions to the General Inspectorate of Health to check the situation and see what happened», he said, referring to his recent field visit to Hassan II Hospital, where the deaths were recorded. Tahraoui explained that the first death occurred in mid-August and the last in September, acknowledging that «the information did not arrive quickly to the Ministry», which he described as «the first mistake». Six new university hospitals, 1,400 primary health centers rehabiliated During the interview, the minister also discussed ongoing public investments aimed at upgrading health facilities and building new hospitals. «We can't say that the health sector is not a priority», he said, citing university hospitals as an example. «We now have five university hospitals, and we are working on six new ones so that each region has its own». Achieving this goal, he added, «requires huge investments, with significant financial, human, and equipment resources». Tahraoui revealed that the ministry is currently working on the university hospitals of Agadir and Laayoune, with others planned for Errachidia and Béni Mellal in the medium term. He also highlighted efforts to rehabilitate primary healthcare centers, describing them as «facilities closest to citizens». «We allocated a budget of 6.2 billion dirhams to rehabilitate 1,400 primary health centers. So far, we have renovated 1,000, with plans to reach 1,400 by the end of the year», he said. «But in Morocco, we have around 3,000 health centers. We will therefore launch another program to rehabilitate 1,600 more». Halting investment incentive requests The minister also addressed reports regarding the suspension of investment incentives for the private health sector. He explained that «a number of investment incentive requests had been submitted to the investment committee», a government body responsible for such matters outside the Health Ministry. «The committee received these requests and studied them», he said. «I attended this committee because there were issues related to health», he added. According to the minister, there were six or seven such requests, some of which had already been reviewed and were close to approval. He clarified that he had asked for these to be halted. «We need to reconsider this incentive measure, because the question we need to ask is: why do we need to incentivize a sector that is already being incentivized?» he said. The private health sector was quick to respond to the news, with the National Association of Private Clinics insisting that no clinic affiliated with the association had ever benefited from any form of support, whether for management or equipment. «Go to Rabat and complain» Tahraoui also addressed controversy surrounding a recent video of him during a hospital visit. The clip, which showed him telling an official to «go to Rabat and complain», was viewed by some as provocative. The minister said his remarks had been taken out of context. «I was on a field visit and noticed many imbalances», he clarified. «I was asking about a number of medications that were not available and about equipment that was not working, and I was asking why». When he asked what had been done, the official told him that he had sent letters to the regional health authorities but received no response. «I was unhappy with the situation», Tahraoui said. «I told him that if the regional health authorities were not responsive, he should have followed up with Rabat». Tahraoui's appearance comes as Morocco has witnessed youth-led protests in several cities over the past ten days, demanding quality healthcare and education. The movement behind these demonstrations, GenZ 212, has even called for the government's resignation and an end to corruption and nepotism.
