Morocco’s health authorities have placed regional medical services on round-the-clock alert as temperatures rise to 46C in parts of the country, reinforcing emergency teams and increasing stocks of oxygen, intravenous fluids and medicines.
The measures are intended to strengthen the response to heat-related illness and avoid a repeat of July 2024, when 21 people died within 24 hours at the regional hospital in Beni Mellal during an intense heatwave.
Health officials told Hespress that hospitals had been instructed to increase staffing in emergency departments, ambulance services and telephone response centres.
Ilham Bachis, acting director of hospitals at the Health Ministry, said medical teams were moving to continuous duty schedules, while regional health departments were receiving additional funding to keep ambulances and other emergency vehicles operating.
Hospitals were also preparing air-conditioned areas for patients suffering from heat stress and increasing supplies of oxygen, intravenous fluids and medicines used to treat heatstroke and other seasonal emergencies.
Epidemiologist Jaouad El Kabil said hospitals were required to submit daily and weekly reports to help authorities identify unusual rises in heat-related illness or other health problems.
Health officials are also coordinating with local authorities and monitoring reports of possible outbreaks or clusters of illness in communities, he said.
The measures come as Morocco remains under an orange weather alert, with temperatures forecast to reach between 42C and 46C in several inland, central and southern provinces.
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