With the hashtag “#Miraouidégage” circulating on social networks, Abdellatif Miraoui, Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, and Innovation, addressed the ongoing issue concerning students in medical and pharmacy faculties, noting it has persisted for over five months, except for dental students who are unaffected.
Despite government efforts to meet medical students’ demands, Miraoui stated they boycotted the spring session exams, held from June 26 at their request, to which the government acceded.
These remarks came during Minister Miraoui’s responses to councilors’ queries at the weekly oral question session in the House of Councillors.
The Minister emphasized the crisis’s continuation despite numerous meetings where the government proposed clear answers and realistic solutions, criticizing students for backtracking on meeting agreements after returning to their assemblies.
Issues addressed included the length of medical doctoral training, thesis-related problems, and third-cycle medical specialty training, described by Miraoui as unprecedented and motivational in national medical education. He also highlighted favorable legal conditions for medical residents and doubled allowances for student trainees.
The Minister affirmed the government’s commitment to reconsider disciplinary sanctions, allow suspended students to sit exams, adjust transcripts by replacing zero marks, and schedule hospital internships to compensate for boycott periods, ensuring completion within scheduled durations contingent upon exam success and resumption of faculty operations.
Initially, the boycott centered on reducing medical training from 7 to 6 years, with students citing potential deprivation of full-year hospital internships. Miraoui noted the government’s response by offering optional hospital internships after the sixth year with specific grants.
Reducing training years aimed not at cost savings but at enhancing training quality to align with international standards, bolster the national health system with requisite human resources, and address evolving doctor and pharmacist profession demands, Miraoui added, acknowledging dysfunctions in the previous seven-year system confirmed by students.
Regarding the academic year, Miraoui expressed optimism about upcoming exams and hoped for students’ participation, citing coordination’s role in advising against attendance.
The Minister concluded by assuring that student concerns about studies and internships were considered, with enhancements like artificial intelligence, telemedicine, and increased supervised internship hours from 2900 over seven years to 3200 hours implemented for quality training.
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