Moroccan Doctors Face Legal Action for Alleged Desertion and Misconduct at Provincial Hospital

Scandal in the health sector! The head of the Lalla Meriem Provincial Hospital has embarked on legal action against four gynecological doctors, for desertion of post with endangerment of human life. The case, brought before the Prosecutor’s Office, was referred to the Judicial Police of the city for further investigation, after the hearing of the accused.

It all started with a request for leave that went wrong. The two gynecologists working at the indicated hospital, taking advantage of the Eid al-Adha holidays, were absent from their post, reports Le360.ma. To get out of it, these two gynecologists filed medical certificates of disability, covering the period of their absence, and which were signed by two of their colleagues from the same Provincial Hospital.

Unfortunately, this absence resulted in a paralysis in the Maternity Department of the said hospital, thus endangering the lives of pregnant women. Faced with this situation, the Provincial Delegate of Health carried out a counter-visit, at home, to the two gynecologists. Realizing that they were no longer at home, he immediately seized the city’s Prosecutor’s Office, accusing them of desertion of post.

This decision does not have the unanimous support within the hospital, particularly at the level of the health and provincial unions. They believe that the manager should have followed the administrative hierarchy circuit, although convinced of its slowness. The judicial route was seized, explain sources close to the same media, because specialist doctors refused to provide on-call duty during public holidays, which endangered the lives of patients. This case lays bare the failure of the government of Saad-Eddine El Othmani in the implementation of a law relating to the civil service.