A 30-year-old woman and mother of five children died last Saturday in the maternity ward at the Provincial Hospital Centre of Essaouira following a home birth. This led to a haemorrhage that required her hospitalisation and the removal of the uterus. She gave birth to twins (a boy and a girl) before passing away following this haemorrhage.

We tried to reach the delegate of the Ministry of Health or the director of the hospital to have more clarifications on this new affair, but without success, as was the case on several occasions.

This other tragedy calls into question the problem of the proximity of health structures linked to a complex problem due to socio-cultural, political, economic, and administrative factors. Many women and their newborns are frequently victims of this unsustainable situation in a Morocco that declares rights but without acting sufficiently to make them accessible. And taking into account the exceptional circumstances of this affair, since the woman had given birth at home due to isolation and a lack of accompaniment and health awareness, the maternity ward has always been the target of criticism and complaints from pregnant women and their families. Two cases are still awaiting the judgment of the court of first instance following complaints filed a year ago.

During a last contact with the husband of a victim from Ait Daoued, the complainant declared himself worried about the slowness of the trial and the repeated absences of the main accused, who is none other than a gynaecologist within the said service, to whom the complainant reproaches shortcomings that caused the death of his wife and his child.

Another victim is still demanding justice, a woman from Hanchane, who came out of a birth ensured by the said doctor with serious genital complications, and accuses him of shortcomings that require reparation. The Court had previously ordered a medical expertise to determine the severity of the damages and thus have more visibility before pronouncing on this affair.

The Hospital Centre of Essaouira currently suffers from serious dysfunctions, the consequences of which are assumed daily by the citizens. One will never talk enough about corruption, the lack of staff and equipment, hygiene problems, and especially the mediocrity of administrative management. Last week, a citizen raised his voice in front of the ophthalmology department, which granted him an appointment in five months. Admittedly, staff is lacking in the face of the high number of patients in a province that has more than four hundred thousand inhabitants, but one must cite the strategy adopted by some doctors who push back appointment deadlines in order to force patients to opt for the private clinic next door.

A young delegate who has been ensuring the interim function for a year now, an administration that drags its feet in the face of the gravity of the situation, corruption that is in full swing, among others, the Minister of Health really has his work cut out for him in Essaouira.