THE Moroccan Kingdom wants to become the first African country to broaden social protection for all of its citizens.
Announced last summer by King Mohammed VI, a vastproject for the generalisation of social protection was officially launched Wednesday 14th of April at the Royal Palace in Fez.
This gigantic strategy aims to improve the living conditions of millions of Moroccans and guarantee the protection of the working class and its access to healthcare. But that tells only half the story.
In addition to generalisation, this initiative will allow the arrival of foreign doctors and stimulate international and local investments in the health sector.
"A real social revolution", were the words of the Moroccan Minister of the Economy, Mohamed Benchaaboun, in an address to the King of Morocco during the ceremony to launch the implementation of this major project, during which several agreements were also signed.
This project will relieve several social categories whose difficulties have been highlighted by the pandemic, since "it will have direct and tangible effects on the improvement of the living conditions of citizens, the preservation of the dignity of all Moroccans, in addition to its participation in the integration of the informal sector," according to the head of the Finance Department.
Social protection for all Moroccans by 2025
According to experts, this marks a new beginning for the Moroccan social protection system. The Kingdom of Morocco has set a deadline of 5 years, between now and 2025, to give substance to the royal orientations set during the Throne’s address on the 29th of July 2020, during which the King of Morocco announced the generalisation of social coverage "for the benefit of all Moroccans".
The main lines of this huge project were unveiled by Minister Benchaâboun: an overhaul of the legislative and regulatory framework, an upgrading of hospital structures and an organisation of the care sector, as well as a reform of the social systems and programmes already in place, notably through the operation of the Unified Social Register (RSU). To achieve this, the state, local authorities, companies, public institutions, the private sector, civil society and citizens are all called upon to get involved.
The reform will first benefit farmers, craftsmen and professionals, traders, professionals and independent service providers subject to the single professional contribution (CPU), the auto-entrepreneur regime or the accounting regime.
The "generalisation of social protection" refers not only to the generalisation of compulsory health insurance (AMO) by 2022, but also to the generalisation of family allowances (AF) during the years 2023 and 2024, by allowing households that do not benefit from these allowances to receive allowances covering child-related risks, or lump-sum allowances, which constitutes phase I of the project.
The second phase, which will run from 2024 to 2025, will be devoted to broadening the base of pension scheme members to include those who are employed and do not receive a pension, in addition to the generalisation of the job loss allowance.
This announcement comes at a crucial time for Morocco, for the North African Kingdom has succeeded, accroding to international analyst, to contain the pandemics through a large scale strategy based on strict sanitary measures, a massive recovery plan for the economy, a social net to help people who lost their job, and a large vaccination campaign that started as early as the 29th of January. Since the launch of the vaccination campaign, nearly 23% of the target population got at least one shot, placing the country in the World's Top 20.
Opening up to foreign doctors and international investment
In addition, the health sector is to be opened up to foreign investment in order to consolidate the medical skills of health professionals. The objective is to be able to meet the demand, which will increase at a rapid pace with the implementation of this major societal project, especially since the deficit in human resources is not small. Morocco needs 100,000 doctors and nurses.
The scale of the project is ambitious: 22 million additional people will benefit from insurance covering the cost of treatment, medication and hospitalisation. Another ambitious figure is that 7 million school-age children will be covered by child risk protection benefits (school drop-out).
A colossal reform whose annual cost will be 51 billion DH (5 billion Euros). A good part of this envelope, i.e. 23 billion DH, will come from the State budget. All this to preserve the dignity of Moroccans, support their purchasing power and help integrate the informal sector.
