Morocco social protection is a major strategic project, awaited for years and constitutes a step towards reducing the gaps between the various Moroccan social categories. This gigantic strategy aims to improve the living conditions of millions of Moroccans and guarantee the protection of the working class and its access to health.

Initially, farmers, craftsmen and professionals, traders and independent service providers subject to the unified professional contribution scheme, the auto-entrepreneur scheme or the accounting scheme, it will be extended, in a second phase, to other categories with a view to ensuring the effective generalization of social protection to all citizens.

The social protection generalization project, launched by HM King Mohammed VI last April, constitutes a lever for integrating the informal sector into the national economic fabric. This project, which will guarantee the protection of the working class and its rights, represents a decisive turning point on the way to the achievement of sustainable and balanced development.

This initiative, assimilated to "a real social revolution", will allow the arrival of foreign doctors and stimulate international and local investments in the health sector. This project will relieve several social categories including difficulties that have been highlighted by the pandemic.

Morocco will open its doors to foreign doctors

The future generalization of social protection intended in the long term to cover 22 million people currently without health insurance, which will require medical human resources for its realization. Morocco, which faces a shortage of practitioners, has decided to open its health sector to foreign skills and foreign investment.

Foreign doctors will be able to practice in Morocco. The Minister of the Economy, Finance and the Reform of the Administration, Mohamed Benchaaboun, indicated that the generalization of the medical coverage requires a set of challenges which concern in particular the low rate of medical supervision, the significant deficit in human resources and their uneven geographic distribution.

“Thus, to fight against the deficit in terms of health personnel, the practice of medicine will be opened up to foreign skills, the encouragement of international health establishments to work and invest in Morocco”, said Benchaaboun.

Strengthening national medical capacity and fighting against the deficit in health executives, necessary for the success of this reform, through the opening of the practice of medicine to foreign expertise, the encouragement of international health institutions to work and invest in Morocco, and the capitalization on successful experiences, in accordance with the High Royal Instructions contained in the opening speech of the Parliament for the year 2018.

Preserving the dignity of Moroccans and integrating the informal sector

The social protection will have direct and tangible effects on improving the living conditions of citizens and preserving the dignity of all Moroccans, while contributing to integrating the informal sector.

The implementation of this large-scale societal project constitutes a starting point for the achievement of His Majesty the King's aspirations in favor of all the components of Moroccan society.

The practice of the project will guarantee the protection of the working class and its rights, as well as a decisive turning point on the path towards the achievement of balanced development and social and spatial justice under the wise guidance of His Majesty the King.

Morocco general social protection implementation

The optimal implementation of this reform according to the timetable and axis set out in the speeches of the Sovereign will start with the generalization of the basic compulsory health insurance during the years 2021 and 2022 by broadening the base of beneficiaries of this insurance to include vulnerable categories benefiting from the Medical Assistance Scheme and the category of professionals and self-employed and non-salaried persons, who exercise a liberal activity so that 22 million additional people benefit from this insurance, which covers the costs of treatment, drugs and hospitalization.

Secondly, the generalization of family allowances during the years 2023 and 2024 allowing households, which do not benefit from these allowances, to receive benefits covering the risks associated with childhood, or lump sums.

The third point relates to the expansion in 2025 of the base of members of pension schemes to include people who are employed and do not receive any pension, through the implementation of the pension system specific to the categories of professionals and self-employed and non-salaried people who are exerting a liberal profession, in order to include all categories concerned.

The fourth point concerns the generalization of the compensation for loss of employment in the year 2025 to cover any person exercising a stable job through the simplification of the conditions to benefit from this allowance and the expansion of the base of recipients.

Important amounts allocated to ensure the success of this project

"The management of these programs by 2025 will require the allocation of a total annual amount of 51 billion dirhams, including 23 billion financed by the general budget of the State," said the minister of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform while presenting the project to his majesty the king.

He said in this regard that the implementation of this forward-looking project requires the amendment of a set of existing laws and regulations, the development of new texts, and the launch of a set of structural reforms that concern the upgrading of the health system and the reform of the compensation system, so as to address the imbalances in the targeting of categories eligible for assistance, along with the operationalization of the unified social register.

The implementation of this major social project also requires the development of management methods, including those related to the governance of social security agencies, with a view to creating a unified body for coordination and supervision of social protection systems.