Morocco’s health sector faces paradox of shortages and unemployment

Morocco’s health sector is grappling with a painful paradox: while hospitals and health centers suffer from severe shortages of medical personnel, thousands of trained nurses and health technicians remain unemployed, locked out of the system they were trained to serve.

The Ministry of Health and Social Protection has pledged to increase the ratio of healthcare workers from 17.4 per 10,000 people in 2022 to 45 by 2030, in line with World Health Organization standards. Minister Khalid Ait Taleb has said the plan is central to Morocco’s development goals and improving equitable access to healthcare.

To support this goal, the ministry has expanded training efforts. Undergraduate seats for health sciences have risen by 206% to 8,360 in 2024, with a target of 11,900 by 2029. Master’s program seats have jumped 353% to 680. New training institutes have opened across Morocco, alongside three new medical faculties and university hospitals in Errachidia, Beni Mellal, and Guelmim.

The number of public sector healthcare jobs has also increased, from 4,000 in 2019 to 6,500 projected in 2025, 60% of which are for nurses and health technicians. The government has decentralized hiring processes, allowing regional authorities to run recruitment since 2020, prioritizing rural and underserved areas.

Yet despite these advances, many graduates face long-term unemployment.

“It’s a chronic and recurring crisis,” said Abdellah Merrouch, a board member of the Independent Union of Nurses and part of the National Coordination of Health Graduates. He argues that the mismatch stems from “a lack of strategic vision for human resource planning,” with poorly distributed and often insufficient job openings.

Merrouch highlighted the recurrence of similar employment crises dating back to 2013, when graduates from essential disciplines, such as physiotherapy, social work, and midwifery, waited up to six years for job placements. “We keep training more professionals than we need, and with no clear job prospects, they’re pushed into unemployment or emigration,” he said.

This “brain drain,” he added, comes at a time when the ministry itself is struggling to fill the personnel gap necessary for universal health coverage.

One key issue, Merrouch noted, is the lack of coordination between the ministry and university hospitals (CHUs). Recruitment processes are often run in parallel and without synchronization, leading to inefficiencies and overlapping applications in some areas while others are left understaffed.

“Sometimes hospitals in one city are overwhelmed with applicants, while another city is left with no one at all. It’s a logistical failure that wastes both financial resources and human capital,” he said.

He called for an integrated hiring strategy based on clearly defined national and regional needs, with transparent announcements of available positions across all sectors.

Fatima Zahra Belin, a member of the National Council of the Independent Union of Nurses, echoed the concern, saying unemployment among health professionals is a symptom of deeper structural dysfunctions.

She explained that the number of public job openings is determined by pre-stated needs from regional hospitals and university medical centers. However, she warned that when these needs are inaccurately assessed or not harmonized with training quotas, the result is an oversupply of graduates and a persistent shortage in the field.

Belin emphasized that staffing gaps are particularly critical in specialties such as midwifery and anesthesia, which are vital to the functioning of any hospital.

“Without enough professionals in these roles, critical services grind to a halt,” she said. She also pointed to a regional imbalance in recruitment, where some provinces face the closure of key departments due to staffing shortages, while others are better served.

Complicating matters further is the rise of private health education institutions, which produce even more graduates for an already saturated job market. Belin warned this dynamic is increasing pressure on a public health system that cannot absorb all trained professionals.

While the ministry has organized special recruitment drives to alleviate the problem, Merrouch argued these are “band-aid solutions.” He called for a comprehensive, long-term national strategy that aligns training with employment, strengthens coordination between key stakeholders, and significantly increases the number of permanent positions in the public health sector.

“The issue is no longer just about jobless nurses,” he said. “It’s about the sustainability of Morocco’s healthcare system and the right of citizens to quality medical care.”