Hospital Crisis: Morocco’s Emergency Rooms Face Critical Shortages and Patient Frustration

While she presented herself to the emergency room to treat swelling and pain in her ankle, the patient had to wait before seeing the doctors. Without examining her, they asked her to go to the next room for a bandage, reports Hespress.

This attitude of the doctors annoyed the patient’s daughter: "When my daughter saw that the doctor did not examine me and that the nurse just bandaged my ankle even though I still had pain, she went back to see the doctor to tell him that none of this had solved my problem and that I should at least have an injection to relieve my pain and an x-ray to see if it was not a sprain," she had explained. Following the young girl’s reaction, her mother received a cortisone injection. According to one of the hospital’s nurses, this injection is generally given to all patients, regardless of the case.

The patient also noted a lack of hygiene. According to her, the nurse did not change gloves before taking care of the other patients. In the radiology department, the situation is worse.

According to a member of the staff, the x-ray does not work at night, as the technicians in charge of the x-ray do not work at night. She was therefore asked to come back the next morning for the x-ray.

Faced with this situation, the patient had to go to a private hospital to receive adequate care. According to the same source, the same practice is observed in most public emergencies in the Kingdom.