Social Sectors Committee at House of Representatives Reviews Management of Current Epidemiological Situation in Our Country by Ministry of Health
The Social Sectors Committee at the House of Representatives held a meeting on Thursday, September 17th, 2020, chaired by Committee Chairperson Saida Aït Bouali, and attended by Minister of Health Khalid Aït Taleb. The meeting was devoted to discussing topics relative to the public procurement contracts concluded by the Ministry in the light of COVID-19, the recent evolution of the epidemiological situation, the repercussions of epidemiological clusters in farms and industrial production plants, the morale of healthcare staff, and the assessment of the lockdown period.
In his presentation before the Social Sectors Committee, the Minister of Health revealed that his department “concluded 247 public procurement contracts with more than 98 enterprises, with a sum of 1.9 billion dirhams of the budget allocated to the Ministry of Health from the Special Fund to Manage the Coronavirus Pandemic.”
Mr. Aït Taleb added that "the objective of the concluded contracts was to acquire technical medical equipment and supplies (25% of the total amount), beds and their supplies (12%), radiography appliances (8%), hospitalization equipment (0.1%), laboratory supplies (19.1%), drugs and medical supplies (17%), and other purchases from abroad relative to technical medical equipment and raw materials used to manufacture the drugs prescribed in the treatment protocol.”
Besides, and concerning the legal framework regulating the conclusion of these contacts, the Minister stated that "they were concluded following Decree 2.12.349 of March 20th, 2020 and Decree 2.20.270 of March 16th, 2020, and that the procurement of the medical and biomedical equipment, personal protection devices, and drugs followed the process of implementing negotiable contracts.” Also, the Minister stressed that “his department managed, thanks to negotiating with enterprises, to buy these appliances and equipment with a cost lower than the estimated one considering that 83% of the procurement contracts enabled the Ministry to save 20% of the cost.”
In the general discussion, the Committee members presented several comments and raised numerous questions regarding the epidemiological situation and the management of the conditions for urgently equipping the health sector infrastructure and developing its facilities in full respect of the legislation in force, especially concerning the procurement of serological assays and equipping six hospitals with pharmaceutical substances and medical supplies.
Also, the Committee members focused on the issue of human resources and their fight to limit the propagation of COVID-19. In this respect, the participants agreed upon the vital role of doctors, paramedics, and all medical staff. They also agreed upon the importance of institutionalizing the partnership with the private healthcare institutions during these circumstances, calling for “providing the health sector human resources with favorable conditions to help them perform their tasks during this pandemic.”
On logistics, the deputies tackled the Ministry’s management of the propagation of epidemiological clusters in rural zones, farms, and production plants, especially considering the poor infrastructure in such areas, in addition to the Ministry’s preparation for this period and its plans to address the epidemiological situation.