The government of Morocco is set to upgrade the existing, and build new hospitals in Fez-Meknes, one of the twelve Regions of Morocco in the wali of Said Zniber.

This is after the Moroccan ministry of health, led by minister Khalid Ait Taleb together with the Regional Council of Fez-Meknes led by President Mohand Laenser signed 11 agreements for the implementation of the project for an overall cost of about US$ 155M or it’s there abouts.

The signing of the agreements took place in Fez, coinciding with the 65th anniversary of Morocco’s Independence Day.

An overview of the agreements

Four out of the eleven agreements fall within Fez-Meknes’ 2020-2022 regional health infrastructure program. They relate to the construction of a provincial hospital with a capacity of 120 beds in Moulay Yacoub, for a budget of approximately US$ 26.3M. The agreements also concern the construction of three local hospitals with a capacity of 45 beds each in Boulemane, Taza, and El Hajeb at the cost of US$ 12.05, US$ 10.96M, and US$ 5.48M respectively.

Six of the agreements provide for the construction of hospitals through a partnership between the regional council and the health ministry. This will result in the construction of four new hospitals in Sefrou, Taounate, Meknes, and Fez. US$ 21.92M will be set aside for each of the hospitals which will have a capacity of 120 beds for patients.

The partnership will also see the rehabilitation of medical infrastructures in Ifrane, with a budget of US$ 5.48M, and the extension of the Ibn Al Hassan psychiatric hospital in Fez for US$ 3.29M.

The final agreement concerns the equipment of hospitals in the Fez-Meknes region with intensive care beds in order to improve their ability to offer services, especially for critical COVID-19 cases during this time of the pandemic. The agreement allocates an investment budget of US$ 4.38M.