The hospital staff in Marrakech are overwhelmed. On Monday, doctors and nurses from Ibn Zohr hospital, which serves as a regional hospital center, organized a sit-in in front of the infrastructure emergency, denouncing the situation within the hospital and calling for intervention by emergency from the Ministry of Health. A demand quickly heard, since a ministerial commission would have been dispatched this Tuesday to Marrakech to inquire about the situation.
Things thus seem to be accelerating in the face of an alarming situation in the hospitals of the ocher city, denounced many times by professionals. Just last week, the Association of Doctors of Marrakech (Al Moqim) denounced, in a press release, the fact that several infections have been confirmed among medical staff.
A cry of distress which was confirmed by an audio recording of a doctor and a resuscitation specialist at the CHR Ibn Zohr, denouncing the lack of means and deploring the deaths among the patients admitted to this infrastructure.
A problem of management of the hospital infrastructure in Marrakech
“It’s an audio recording in a professional group on WhatsApp of CHR doctors, previously created by the former director for coordination and communication. I know the doctor and the resuscitation specialist, ”Imad Soussou, vice-president of FNS-UMT at the Mohammed VI University Hospital in Marrakech, told us this Tuesday, confirming that the doctor is a member of the said union. “The doctor cried because her patients died in the corridors of the hospital, yet she has a 20-year career and knows how to handle tragedies,” he says.
The medical staff of CHR Ibn Zorh demonstrating Monday in front of the hospital emergency room. / Ph. Kech24
As for the origin of this situation, having generated a “lack of wall-mounted oxygen sources” for a large number of patients, the trade unionist reminds us that “historically speaking, the Ibn Zohr hospital (formerly Mauchamp, built in 1913 and called El Mamounia by the Marrakchis, editor’s note) is not a CHR ”.
“Marrakech is paying the price now, compared to other cities, because the CHR was originally the Ibn Tofail hospital (known in Marrakech as a civilian hospital and built in 1938, note) and Ibn Zohr was not than a provincial hospital, ”he explains. Thus, when Marrakech has a university hospital center and instead of “handing over the Ibn Tofail hospital to the regional health delegation, it was transplanted to the CHU”.
“The Marrakech region had therefore lost its CHR which offers care classified level 2. As a result, we currently only have level 1 and 3 care, level 2 being important to lighten the CHU”, he explains. again.
Ibn Zohr hospital overwhelmed by high demand and lack of resources
For the trade unionist, Ibn Zohr was thus transformed into a CHR, “without however having the criteria”. “The building is very old and cannot withstand high demand even in normal times. Currently, it is the only hospital carrying out a Covid consultation in Marrakech, ”he regrets.
“Everyone turns to this hospital: those who want to have a test, those who want to carry out a consultation because they have symptoms, and those sent by clinics. The last straw is that the Ibn Zohr hospital also welcomes non-Covid patients and offers so-called normal consultations. ”
Imad Soussou
–
In addition, the hospital infrastructure is facing the fight against the coronavirus, without a director. “First of all, the provincial delegate was dismissed from his post by the ministry and his post temporarily occupied by the regional director of health. A second director who came to replace the first tendered his resignation, as did the third recently, ”adds Imad Soussou.
Patients waiting in line at the CHR Ibn Zohr in Marrakech. / Ph. Kech24
An internal doctor at the Marrakech University Hospital told us, for his part, that the center “only takes care of the hospitalization of the Covid, with two intensive care units at Errazi hospital and three at Ibn Tofail”. “The CHU does not do the Covid consultation and you have to wait for its OK for the CHR to transfer patients to it depending on the places available”, he explains.
Thus, apart from people wishing to travel abroad and having to take a PCR test, “the rest of the population is directed towards Ibn Zohr, who is facing great pressure on his laboratory, his scanners, his intensive care unit and his emergencies, he is alarmed. All without means, neither sources of oxygen nor human resources ”. “People are staying in the hospital toilets, there are so many places left,” he finally blurted out.
As for the commission expected in Marrakech, this doctor says he has “experience” with this kind of mission. “They write reports. Heads may certainly fall but the problem will not be solved, ”he regrets, a bit pessimistic. “The people who are managing this crisis are not aware of what is happening on the ground,” he comments.
Yabiladi has repeatedly tried to contact the regional director of health in Marrakech, Lamia Chakiri as well as Professor Lahcen Boukhanni, director of the Marrakech University Hospital, in vain.
–
“Alarming” situation at the Marrakech University Hospital
And the situation at the Mohammed VI University Hospital in Marrakech does not seem better. One of his internal doctors told Yabiladi that “the situation is even alarming”, although the hospital infrastructure has dedicated an entire hospital to patients with Covid-19. “Currently, Ibn Tofail hospital is dedicated to case management, with 3 intensive care sectors, and a bedding capacity of 50 beds,” he adds.
“Its medical staff are on leave and exhausted. In addition, there are among us positive cases: just for the internal doctors of the emergency rooms of the CHU, we are in 8 or 9 positive cases. If everyone has 5 or 6 shifts to perform, 40 shifts with a problem must be filled, ”he said.
“On the material side and in my experience, the hospital does its best to provide us with basic resources and we have to regulate what we have. However, if the stock is not renewed, we risk the shortage, ”he concludes.
An improvement over the situation after Eid Al Adha, when doctors warned of the exhaustion of material resources intended to protect them against the coronavirus.
–
–
