Moroccan Hospital Worker Denies X-Ray to French Tourists, Citing Religious Beliefs

Victims of an accident, two French tourists sought a consultation at the public hospital in Ouarzazate. They requested an x-ray from a health technician. But he refused on the grounds that his religious beliefs prevented him from touching women or working with them, reports Assabah. The two women only received a diagnosis made by one of the doctors in this establishment. The latter explained to them that what they were feeling after their accident were just symptoms that would disappear a few days later.

Back in France, the two tourists "insisted on being consulted". A justified insistence, as they discovered that they had fractures in several parts of their bodies. They "then decided to hire a lawyer, to take the necessary measures in the context of the accident they were victims of" in the kingdom, but also "in the context of the care they could not have access to at the Ouarzazate hospital," the same source said. The competent authorities have also been seized in the context of this case.

"A report drawn up on this case had shown that the two tourists had been victims of a traffic accident, the perpetrator of which would be the son of a well-known official in the city of Ouarzazate," explained the president of the Moroccan Federation of Consumer Rights. According to him, "suspicions of pressure on the doctor who consulted the two victims are mentioned," so that he finds himself "affirming that the health status of the two tourists was not worrying".

As soon as this case broke out, the Moroccan Federation of Consumer Rights sent a letter to the Minister of Health. Months later, radio silence.