Maghreb Arabe Presse (Rabat)
Casablanca — HM King Mohammed VI officially launched, on Monday in Casablanca, the medical assistance programme (RAMED), which will benefit some 8.5 million needy people.
The Sovereign visited the El Hank urban health centre, the Moulay Youssef regional hospital and the Ibn Rushd University Hospital, where he enquired about the conditions of admission, care and hospitalization of the beneficiaries of RAMED.
At the El Hank urban health centre, HM the King followed explanations on the care unit set up for the benefit of those who hold a RAMED card in the Grand Casablanca region, then distributed RAMED cards to ten patients among the beneficiaries.
About 546,794 people will benefit from this programme in the region, 25 pc of them are poor.
At the Moulay Youssef regional hospital, the Sovereign enquired about the arrangements taken to facilitate patient access to health care (social assistance, RAMED window), and visited the radiology department.
HM the King visited, later on, the Ibn Rushd university hospital where he followed explanations on the admission process, the care provided under the new system and the RAMED budget allocated to the hospital, amounting to 45 million dirhams.
On this occasion, the Sovereign visited the nephrology department to which is admitted a 13-year-old child who was transferred to the hospital under the RAMED programme.
Of the 8.5 million expected beneficiaries, some four million people living in extreme poverty will receive free care, in accordance with the eligibility criteria, while some 160,000 others, including inmates of prisons and orphanages and homeless people, will be eligible.
4.5 million people in vulnerable situations will benefit from partially free care, for an annual contribution of 120 dirhams, with a maximum of 600 dirhams per family.
Tagged: Health, Morocco, North Africa
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