First private medical university to open by 2016

Morocco is to open its first private, multidisciplinary university for medical students and health professionals. l’Univesité des Sciences et de Santé de Casablanca will be located in Casablanca and will open by 2016.

Morocco has inadequate numbers of physicians – 0.5 per 1,000 people. The health care system includes 122 hospitals, 2,400 health centres and four university clinics, but they are poorly maintained and lack the capacity to meet the demand for medical care.

To deal with a shortage of medical human resources, l’Univesité des Sciences et de Santé de Casablanca – USSC – will comprise four sections: a medical faculty, a faculty of nursing and health, a college of biomedical engineering, and a graduate school of public health and management.

USSC, which will partner with the Ministry of Health and will be under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education, will collaborate with the existing School of Medicine of Casablanca and will be part of the International University of Casablanca.

Its courses of study will be six years and will be taught partially in English by qualified lecturers from public medical schools in Morocco and abroad.

Regional impact

Morad Ahmed Morad, a professor of medicine at Tanta University in Egypt, welcomed the development:

“USSC will be a vital medical campus for tackling the shortage of medical professionals and inadequate training, which are the two biggest concerns facing the future of Morocco as well as Africa’s medical profession.”

It was, Morad told University World News, a “good example of a private sector contribution towards promoting the development of medical human resources, which should be encouraged – but education quality must be assured”.