Morocco has just started a project to generalize social protection for an annual amount of 5.7 billion dollars. Last year, Moroccan authorities announced that the coronavirus crisis revealed the weakness of the country’s social protection network.
It is July 29, 2020 that Morocco announced the establishment a plan to generalize social protection by 2025. The project was therefore launched on Wednesday, April 14, 2021 and originally affects 9 million recipients.
Ultimately, the plan to generalize social coverage is intended to cover 22 million people who currently lack health insurance.
According to Mohamed Benchaaboun, the Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance, the project also aims to integrate the informal sector, farmers, artisans, independent professionals and their families or even traders. They will be the first to be included in the compulsory health insurance system (AMO) this year and next.
In 2025, there will be four phases. Each of them aims to include the persons concerned in compulsory health insurance programs, family benefits, the pension system and compensation for loss of employment.
At present, in Morocco, only public and private sector employees benefit from medical coverage.
The generalization of medical coverage will require improved health care services, marked by a “low level of medical supervision” and a “significant deficit in human resources”, according to Minister Mohamed Benchaaboun. He mentioned, as a possible answer, “the opening up of the practice of medicines to foreign skills, the encouragement of international health institutions to work and invest in Morocco”.
Read also: Covid-19: after a difficult start, the vaccination campaign in Morocco is accelerating
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