Medication Shortage Crisis Hits Morocco, Affecting Chronic and Common Illnesses

Moroccan patients are experiencing a drama with frequent stock shortages of medicines for certain pathologies. According to the daily Al Massae, the lack of certain medicines, whose list continues to grow, represents a major risk to the health of Moroccans. This list of unavailable medicines and other pharmaceutical compounds in pharmacies concerns not only the treatment of chronic diseases, such as thyroid dysfunction, but also cancer, mental illnesses and even the flu, the same newspaper specifies.

Some pharmacists argue that the medicines prescribed for practically all diseases regularly experience a stock shortage. According to these professionals, they often find themselves in a predicament when a patient presents them with a prescription containing a list of medicines, most of which are not available, thus placing the responsibility on the ministry, which they accuse of not taking this phenomenon seriously.

According to the president of the Moroccan Network for the Defense of the Right to Health and Life, Ali Lotfi, quoted by Al Massae, it is a problem of governance within the ministry. He also deplores the government’s inability to give the exact figure of the number of medicines circulating on the market and to ensure the normal supply of pharmacies with essential medicines for the treatment of certain relatively widespread chronic diseases.