Morocco’s Cancer Prevention Plan Missing from 2021 Budget, Despite Government Pledge

This commitment was made by Saâd-Eddine El Othmani, on the sidelines of the celebration of the National Day of the Fight Against Cancer, recalls Al Akhbar, specifying that the signatories of this "petition for life" were calling for the establishment of a national fund that would benefit all cancer patients and cover all expenses.

This petition, launched in December 2019 and carried by the professor of constitutional law, Omar Cherkaoui, is struggling to bear fruit, informs the same source, noting that it had nevertheless collected the 50,000 signatures necessary to be taken into account by the government.

The Head of the Executive, who accepted the petition in September last year, without however giving his approval for the creation of a special fund, announced the launch of a national plan for the prevention and fight against cancer (2020-2029), endowed with 7.8 billion dirhams, to reduce the cancer mortality rate, adding that vaccination against cervical cancer would be generalized in 2021 and would concern all girls aged 11 and over. This type of cancer, details the newspaper, affects 1,500 women each year, and its treatment costs at least 100,000 dirhams.

However, observe the sources of Al Akhbar, the budget of the [Ministry of Health], in the 2021 finance bill presented to the House of Representatives, does not mention any new measure related to the commitments of the Head of Government.

The same sources also specify that all the commitments made by the Head of Government towards the initiators of the "petition for life" are nowhere to be found in the 2021 finance bill and the budget of the Ministry of Health.