Virus Crisis Shines Light On Troubled North Africa Health Care

The coronavirus pandemic has put the spotlight on shortcomings in health care in several North African countries, even as governments moved quickly to announce restrictions to limit the spread of the virus

Rabat, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Apr, 2020 ) :The coronavirus pandemic has put the spotlight on shortcomings in health care in several North African countries, even as governments moved quickly to announce restrictions to limit the spread of the virus.

"Our fate is in the hands of a health system that we have neglected for years", a doctor in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh said in a video widely shared on social media.

COVID-19 patients in Morocco have denounced the conditions in public hospitals, reigniting nagging controversy over the underfunded health sector.

In a stagnating Tunisia, the government has struggled to mobilise funds to face the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just last year, the health sector was shaken by a series of deaths of newborn babies and reports of unsanitary facilities, poor staff management and a lack of resources.

And in neighbouring Algeria, "the health crisis has exposed failings of the health system", said Kamel Bouzid, president of the Algerian Society of Medical Oncology, quoted by independent news site TSA.

Algeria is the worst-hit of the three North African countries so far, with 986 officially declared cases, including 83 deaths, compared with 47 deaths from 735 cases in Morocco, and 455 cases including 14 deaths in Tunisia.

Moroccan Health Minister Khalid Ait Taleb said that "considerable effort is made to care for patients".

But he also acknowledged that "even before COVID-19, we had a lack of human resources. That's the main problem".