Morocco: Government Vows to Improve Health Sector

Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine el-Othmani delivers his first speech presenting the government's program at the Moroccan Parliament in Rabat, Morocco (Reuters)
Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine el-Othmani delivers his first speech presenting the government's program at the Moroccan Parliament in Rabat, Morocco (Reuters)
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Morocco: Government Vows to Improve Health Sector

Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine el-Othmani delivers his first speech presenting the government's program at the Moroccan Parliament in Rabat, Morocco (Reuters)
Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine el-Othmani delivers his first speech presenting the government's program at the Moroccan Parliament in Rabat, Morocco (Reuters)

Health services in Morocco are still below expectations, however, the government vows to improve them, asserted Moroccan Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani.

Othmani reported that the health sector needs a profound reform of its system with a strategic perspective on various issues, particularly governance.

Speaking during a parliamentary hearing session, the PM asked the deputies to be fair and refrain from negativity, which will not lead to any achievement in this sector.

The PM pointed out that his government has given the health sector special importance in the government program and raised the budget of the health sector to $1.6 billion in 2019, a 16 percent increase compared to 2016. This budget has improved in an unprecedented manner in the last 12 years, he said.

He explained that the biggest approach to reforming the health system was through basic health coverage, as it would make it possible to reduce expenditures on families. Health coverage reached 60 percent after it was 33 percent in the previous period.

Othmani pointed out that the health coverage will increase through a number of procedures, with the first batch of cards to be issued before the end of 2019.

The PM also announced that the coverage workshops will expand to include immigrants and refugees in the future.

To address the issues with the health sector, Othmani said the government prepared a national plan to develop the health sector in the year 2025. The plan was prepared according to “participatory approach”, in which it consulted with partners and those concerned with the national health issue.

This led to a roadmap founded on six basic principles: quality of services, equal access to these services, solidarity and interdependence, continuity and proximity, performance and efficiency, then responsibility and accountability.

For their part, a number of deputies discussed the issues of the health sector including the lack of doctors, saying there are 3.5 doctors in the public and private sectors for every 18,000 persons, while the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend the number should be 13 doctors per 18,000.

On Saturday, members of the semi-banned Islamist al-Adl Wa al-Ihssane group staged protests in front of a number of mosques in the eastern city of Oujda to denounce the authorities' ban on their seclusion at the mosques.

The group said that the public forces stormed four mosques in Oujda and “violently evicted those who were reciting the Book of Allah, and forced them to leave the mosque.”

The group’s spokesman Hasan Panaji reported that the authorities banned all citizens who visit these mosques for seclusion, and members of al-Adl Wa al-Ihssane are part of these citizens.

He warned that closing the mosques means the government is incapable of performing its duty in protecting people’s right to seclusion in the mosque.

The authorities believe that the opposing al-Adl Wa al-Ihssane group uses the mosques and houses to hold unauthorized public gatherings.



94 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Including 45 People Waiting for Aid

A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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94 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, Including 45 People Waiting for Aid

A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian inspects the damage at a school sheltering displaced people, following an overnight Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, July 3, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Airstrikes and shootings killed 94 Palestinians in Gaza overnight, including 45 while attempting to get much-needed humanitarian aid, hospitals and the Health Ministry said Thursday.

Israel’s military did not have immediate comment on the strikes, The Associated Press reported.

Five people were killed while outside sites associated with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the newly created, secretive American organization backed by Israel to feed the Gaza Strip’s population, while 40 others were killed waiting for aid trucks in other locations across the Gaza Strip.

Dozens of people were killed in airstrikes that pounded the Strip Wednesday night and Thursday morning, including 15 people killed in strikes that hit tents in the sprawling Muwasi zone, where many displaced Palestinians are sheltering, and a strike on a school in Gaza City sheltering displaced people.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has passed 57,000, including 223 missing people who have been declared dead. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its death count but says that more than half of the dead are women and children.

The deaths come as Israel and Hamas inch closer to a possible ceasefire that would end the 21-month war.

Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. But Hamas’ response, which emphasized its demand that the war end, raised questions about whether the latest offer could materialize into an actual pause in fighting.

The Israeli military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because it operates from populated areas. The military said it targeted Hamas members and rocket launchers in northern Gaza that launched rockets towards Israel on Wednesday.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.

The war has left the coastal Palestinian territory in ruins, with much of the urban landscape flattened in the fighting. More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced, often multiple times. And the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, leaving hundreds of thousands of people hungry.