Getting Urgent Medical Help In Morocco

[Baconsarni]

Last year my wife suffered a suspect heart attack in Chefchaouen, we went to the local hospital to see if they could help. She saw a Chinese doctor, had an ECG which apparently was fine.

She has had no further problems since thank god !

The hospital itself was like a circus and frankly disgusting, but it did make me think what if ????


How does one find life saving hospitals in Maroc ?

For example there could be a choice of several hospitals in a city, but which one is the best in an emergency?

Anyone like to comment ?

[TheWarden]

I've used the hospital in Essaouira and was treated like royalty whisked to the front of the que for treatment.

Yes it wasn't quite upto European standards but much better service and treatment than I've had in the UK

For very serious issues make sure you've got good travel insurance


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[Baconsarni]

In Essaouira I would imagine there would be a good hospital given the number of expats living there.

Insurance is very important, but when one has to make a possible life changing decision- which hospital to go to

[TheWarden]

Likewise Chefchaouen has a sizeable expat community and is a stones throw from several large cities with a choice of hospitals and only a little further to Spanish facilities in Ceuta

In the more remote parts you take the medical assistance you can get whatever the standard. In the affluent northern areas you'll have a choice. Ask around locally for advice on the preferred options.

A quick google seems to indicate higher standards at private medical clinics etc than the state run institutions. Also found the link below for Allianz World Wide Care facilities, I'd assume that these are suitable for insurance needs so should meet minimum standards

Hospitals in Casablanca, Morocco

[davebetty]

I know of a near death experience in Taza last year where a lone biker had a major diabetic low in a cafe and was seperated from all of his id and medication.

He eventually came around in a horrid hole of an emergency department about 4 hours later shaking uncontrolably as he was soaked in sweat. The care was very basic, but people knew what to do when the situation was explained.

The hospital was very basic and everything was open plan so on the bed next door they were trying to plug up the result of an RTA.

He is a silly boy, but I think he might have learnt a lesson there

[Tim Cullis]

Useful list of medical providers courtesy of the American Embassy
List of Medical Providers | Embassy of the United States

Obviously care is better in Casablanca, Rabat, Fez and Marrakech but there's some good hospitals in smaller places such as Sidi Ifni and Ouarzazate.

[Tony LEE]

If you are off the road 100 metres and there is no phone service and no passing traffic, whether medical attention is available, what standard it is and where it is is relative to your location is all totally irrelevant.

Not confined to Morocco either, as EVERY country has plenty of locations where the above three criteria apply and anyway, your accident could involve getting fatally run over by a bus or grande taxi.

The one saving grace is that being out on the road, you are certainly well away from the place where most people kick the bucket - their own home.

More important things to worry about and when the crunch comes you won't give a damn about the quality of the treatment because you will be just so thankful you are getting any sort of treatment at all. Been there, done that.

[priffe]

Fell into a hole in Tiznit in the middle of the night and broke my shoulder,
went to the little hospital in Sidi Ifni and they took an old fashioned xray, all adequate but not very modern. Tiznit had better resources.
When offered the possibility of surgery I did some research and it
became obvious that it would be much better to go home to have open surgery.

I made a sling from my chech and tied the arm up good
and managed the next month with one arm, all the way to Burkina.
Coming home they found two fractures still healing. Now seven months later 95% good.

Morocco offers modern health care in the larger cities, but they have strains of bacteria that we don't have much in Sweden (like MRSA).
Going south of Morocco you need to know what insurance cover you have.

[moggy 1968]

contact your insurance provider at the earliest opportunity, they will have comprehensive information on the quality of local hospitals, and in tourist areas will have dealt with most of them. Their help desk will (should!!)also have doctors and nurses available who can speak to you if you need to or need general advice.

In the event of life threatening things like cardiac problems, go to the nearest big facility, don't cock about trying to get somewhere that has nice pot plants in the foyer. Your insurance company will organise a move if it's necessary.

Don't be fooled into thinking just because a hospital looks nice and you get moved to the front of the queue means it's any good, thats just surface gloss, doesn't reflect the medical standards or the facilities available. It's a conversation I have had with people on many occasions whilst trying to move them out of a hospital we know to be unsafe, or protect them from unecessary intervention because the hospital looks nice and modern and the doctor is persuasive.

There is one clinic we are aware of, which looks lovely and we have great difficulty persuading people they need to move where people have been fitted with cardiac stents they don't need (at all, not just a little bit!) and where one of the doctors has been struck off in the USA and is a registered sex offender but is still allowed to work in that country (or island to be precise)

Some of the doctors will have worked in europe or America so even in real shitholes the medical care can be quite good. Where things really fall down is the standard of nursing care. It can be so bad that for highly dependent patients it can be life threatening, and trying to get private nursing care in place can be very difficult (some hospitals won't allow it, even though they normally expect relatives to provide the care).

In countries where recipricol agreements are in place, you will be expected to use those, i.e. go to a local state hospital. It's travel insurance, not private medical insurance. If those hospitals are a concern, then the insurance company will move you.

So, in summary, work with your insurance company, they do this day in day out. The doctors and nurses on the medical desk (in my company anyway) are not involved directly with the insurance company. Our decisions and advice are based solely on medical need, not insurance concerns.

[moggy 1968]

Originally Posted by priffe

Fell into a hole in Tiznit in the middle of the night and broke my shoulder,
went to the little hospital in Sidi Ifni and they took an old fashioned xray, all adequate but not very modern. Tiznit had better resources.
When offered the possibility of surgery I did some research and it
became obvious that it would be much better to go home to have open surgery.

I made a sling from my chech and tied the arm up good
and managed the next month with one arm, all the way to Burkina.
Coming home they found two fractures still healing. Now seven months later 95% good.

Morocco offers modern health care in the larger cities, but they have strains of bacteria that we don't have much in Sweden (like MRSA).
Going south of Morocco you need to know what insurance cover you have.

you will frequently find this to be the case. In private hospitals they are much more interventionist, because they make money that way. IN Europe, we are much more pragmatic.

I would say (without knowing the exact details of your injury) you did the right thing. Shoulder surgery is complex, and the results rarely great, so the original injury has to be bad enough to justify the risk.

many clinics may push for immediate surgery, when it is not needed, or even contraindicated because they want to do it. We get this a lot with private clinics in Austria during the ski season, wanting to chop peoples knees up when actually surgery is rarely indicated, and if it is, should be delayed for swelling to reduce.