A total of 50,000 people had benefited, by the end of last March, from the medical assistance scheme (RAMED) under the poverty and precariousness categories in the province of Chtouka Aït Baha.

Approximately 19,000 files were processed, divided between rural (17,000) and urban (2,000) areas, according to a statement from the province citing a report from the provincial commission in charge of managing access to this scheme.

At the provincial level, the target population for the RAMED scheme amounts to 91,000 beneficiaries, divided between the poverty (28,000) and precariousness (63,000) categories.

According to the same report, a total of 3,136 people benefited from free healthcare, including 1,700 students from traditional schools, 1,396 residents of social protection establishments, and about forty people with specific needs.

The RAMED scheme is managed by a local commission responsible for reviewing files at the level of the various local authorities and a provincial commission responsible for the administrative and IT management of this system, which is dedicated to improving access conditions to medical services.

Furthermore, more than 40,000 people benefited from RAMED as of 31 March in the province of Kénitra, according to statistics from the provincial health delegation.

In a presentation on the health situation in the province, given on Monday evening before the ordinary session of the Kénitra urban commune council, the provincial delegate of the Ministry of Health, Mahmoud Berrahal, specified that the number of beneficiaries of this scheme registered between April 2012 and last March is divided into 3,643 rights holders, 29,976 receipt holders, and 7,196 RAMED card holders. More than 15 million dirhams have been set aside to finance the programme at the provincial level, he added. Regarding the efforts made for haemodialysis patients over the last year, Mr. Barrahal indicated that the province has two haemodialysis rooms equipped with 28 haemodialysis machines, 17 of which were financed under the INDH.

He added that as part of the expansion of health services for the province's inhabitants, the construction of a haemodialysis centre in the town of Souk El Arbaâ du Gharb, equipped with eight machines, is scheduled for this year.

He also cited the construction projects currently underway in Kénitra. These include a 450-bed regional hospital, a 120-bed psychiatric hospital, and three clinics in the rural communes of Arbaoua, Behhara Oulad Ayad, and Sidi Mohammed Lahmar, as well as the creation of a family planning and early cancer screening centre and three health centres in the communes of Kariat Ben Aouda, Benmansour, and Sidi Taïbi.

Mr. Barrahal added that the Ministry of Health's efforts also focus on the restoration or construction of five health establishments, a maternity ward, and an emergency department at the Souk El Arbaâ du Gharb hospital.