COVID-19 Exposes Cracks in French Healthcare, Challenging North African Perceptions

In an analysis of the epidemiological situation in France, maghreb-intelligence.com points out that "the lamentable performance in view of the 11.3% budget devoted to health in France in no way calls into question French doctors and scientists, some of whom come from the North African immigration," but "indicts a political management that has shown that the country has been in crisis for about fifteen years." North African populations, accustomed to the speed with which French leaders react to international crises like this one, are disappointed.

Faced with the covid-19 pandemic, "the leader of the French-speaking world has become entangled in its contradictions," the site notes, citing among other mistakes made by Emmanuel Macron that have precipitated the number of infections, the call for the French to go to cinemas and theaters, and the organization of the first round of municipal elections. And as if that were not enough, the French president decreed "a very strict confinement, with draconian and punitive measures against the French."

In terms of managing the covid-19 crisis, France has proven to be a master of improvisation. For many weeks, it "had trouble testing at the same pace as Germany or Spain." The great cacophony occurred when it came to deciding to use hydroxychloroquine to treat declared cases. A "real civil war" broke out within the medical-scientific community, amid accusations of affinities of certain "advisers" of the Élysée with pharmaceutical companies. "A spectacle worthy of a third world country," says maghreb-ntelligence.com.

The same source reveals that while "Morocco and Tunisia were manufacturing millions of protective masks and making them available to their citizens at symbolic prices, the French authorities were having trouble providing them, if only to healthcare personnel." The French model, both in terms of studies and professional career, is now "severely tested." For the current and future Maghreb generations, "the former colonial power has lost a lot of points, and this seems irreversible."