To facilitate the obtaining of the Medical Assistance Scheme (Ramed) card giving the right to care, numerous measures have been taken at the level of the various districts of Mohammedia, which have been provided with human resources to succeed in this operation. Counters have been opened, reserved for welcoming people wishing to benefit from this card, and provisions have been made to facilitate procedures and allow all people who meet the requirements of Ramed to benefit from this scheme.
Faced with an increased demand for care, particularly after the launch of Ramed, how has the health sector in Mohammedia prepared itself and what provisions have been taken? Does the city have hospital structures, and sufficient and adapted medical and paramedical personnel to meet the requirements of Ramed? The least that can be said, and as paradoxical as it may seem, is that Mohammedia, despite its multiple potentials, has only one hospital structure, with a capacity of 148 beds, for more than 320,000 inhabitants. The current deficit concerns the absence of intensive care, neurology, and cardiovascular surgery services, as well as the absence of a scanner.
Are the health centres, 13 in total, including 7 rural ones, equipped with sufficient human and material resources to take care of Ramed beneficiaries and other patients? For example, the rural commune of Echellalate, which has about 40,000 inhabitants, has only one dispensary. With the exception of the Aïn Harrouda health centre, the other dispensaries of the various rural communes under the prefecture of Mohammedia do not have a delivery service.
Despite the current deficit, improvements have been undertaken at the Moulay Abdellah hospital and human and material resources have been strengthened to welcome patients in good conditions. On the sidelines of the launch of Ramed, all services have been mobilised to allow beneficiaries to have the right to available services and care.
"Despite the improvement of the hospital and the improvement of obstetric and emergency care services, problems remain. They will be accentuated by the considerable influx of Ramed card beneficiaries. We are aware," stressed an official at the prefectural health delegation, "of the current deficit regarding health infrastructure.
The spectacular development of Mohammedia and its region has not benefited the health sector much, whose infrastructure no longer meets the real needs of the population and of Mohammedia, where numerous chemical and parachemical units are located, not to mention the rail and motorway density as well as the demographic growth, shanty towns, etc.".
In case of emergency hospitalisation, the patient is taken care of immediately at the Moulay Abdellah hospital.
Serious cases, of "level 3", are sent to the regional hospital centre of Casablanca.
It should be noted that training has been provided to health professionals, doctors, nurses, and administrative staff. "Despite the efforts made, it is imperative to think about the construction of a new prefectural hospital adapted to the needs of Mohammedia and its region," specified a beneficiary of the Ramed card. "Beyond the insufficiency of medical structures, the problem of human resources, the transparency of reception, etc., we must think about the mastery of equipment and medical material to improve performance at the level of emergencies and the maternity service," retorts another beneficiary residing in a shanty town in the city.
For the inhabitants of the city, Ramed must encourage health services to act effectively to improve the quality of care. Indeed, it is a major project that should mobilise all energies to improve the quality of care and establish good governance within public hospital establishments.
The generalisation of Ramed will allow the poor and destitute to benefit from public care and enjoy the right to health. This crucial step will alleviate the numerous problems faced by Mohammedia, where poverty represents more than 5.22% of the total population of the city. It is the same for certain rural communes that house a fragile population. Awareness-raising work is therefore necessary to encourage the fragile population to submit the files giving the right to a Ramed card. As of April 18, 2012, the files submitted reached 3,469 in urban areas and 1,419 files in rural areas, i.e., a total of 4,888 for the entire prefecture.-* Benchmarks
-* Eligibility criteria in urban areas:
-* Have an annual income of less than 5,650 DH per person composing the household after weighting the declared income, including transfers, by socioeconomic variables of the household.
-* Eligibility criteria in rural areas:
-* The applicant must meet the same income criteria.
-* Inhabitants in rural or urban areas must attest that they do not benefit from any compulsory health insurance scheme.
