Morocco to Build $14 Million State-of-the-Art Hospital in Dakhla

The second call for tenders was won by the SUMC, Menasteel Industry and Sys-therm & Maghrebnet consortium launched by the Dakhla Oued-Eddahab Regional Council, the project owner. A first call for tenders had already been launched and canceled for reasons still unknown.

At a total cost of 143 million dirhams, including 70 million financed by the region, this hospital complex will be built on a total area of 2 hectares, a property of the region. The hospital will have several specialties including a maternity ward (gynecology, obstetrics, pediatrics and pediatric surgery), neurology, cardiology, vascular surgery, urology, traumatology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otorhinolaryngology, pneumology, diabetology, gastroenterology, visceral surgery, an internal pharmacy, an emergency analysis laboratory and a blood bank.

Launched to strengthen the medical services offered in the region, the future hospital will have 80 beds, or one bed for 2,007 inhabitants. The bed coverage in 2010 was very low; i.e. 3,245 inhabitants per hospital bed, compared to 746 in Laâyoune-Sakia-El Hamra, 1,287 in Guelmim-Oued Noun and 1,180 nationwide.

In this region, there are 72 doctors compared to 49 in 2010, the majority of whom work in the public sector. As for the medical density of the region, it stands at 2,229 inhabitants per doctor (slightly below the national average of 2,959) compared to 2,689 in 2011.