In Morocco, the drain of executives and brains has been more and more recurrent in recent years. While the Kingdom is in the midst of generalizing medical coverage and needs all its skills, dozens of nurses and doctors are leaving the country for a better future, due to disastrous working conditions.
For the medical and nursing profession, Canada has become the leading destination. Despite the fact that the sky is not as blue over there as here, nurses, for example, find in this country what they do not have at home, namely an appreciation of the work of each , and a merciless fight against overtaking.
In a video shared on social networks, a young nurse, Hafssa Belline, who worked for ten years in Temara as a nurse, finally decided to leave the motherland for Canada.
” I love my country and I love my job and helping people in need. But I was forced to leave my post and my nation because the working conditions were not there. Several reasons pushed me to rethink my life and my career as a nurse. And I am absolutely not surprised to see that several other nurses and managers are leaving Morocco to come to Canada.“, began by revealing the young nurse in a 6-minute video shared on the social network Facebook.
Every month, some 1,000 nurses of different nationalities land in Canada. In October 2022 alone, Hafssa says more than 30 nurses arrived from Morocco.
» We received correspondence from the Order of Nurses of Canada to welcome these nurses, help them and accompany them, particularly on a social level (helping them find the rent, etc.) to start their lives. Others will certainly followt,” she clarified.
Regarding working conditions, Hafssa Belline says they are ten times better in Canada than in Morocco, even if things are not as easy as they seem.
» It hurts to say it, but it’s the reality. We have an order of nurses, a skills classifier. And when a nurse starts working in Canada, he is not lost between the tasks he must do or not. He knows exactly what he has to do, he knows his limits which are well defined. He knows where the skills of a registered nurse/auxiliary begin and where they end. No one can exceed his scope of action and the tasks entrusted to him” , did she say.
On this point, it should be recalled that the Movement of Nurses and Health Technicians of Morocco has been crying out for years for the establishment of an employment and skills reference system (REC) which defines the tasks of each, since they find themselves confronted with tasks that do not fall within their prerogatives, and where they risk the sanction if it ends badly. A claim that has unfortunately never been taken into account by the Moroccan Ministry of Health.
Citing several examples of favorable working conditions in Canada, Hafssa returned to the salary of nurses. ” Here you get paid for every hour of work. In Morocco, you work more than your legal hours and you are not paid for overtime. If your colleague is late in coming, which means you have to stay there for an extra hour or two, you don’t get paid. Here, you work 15 minutes more, you note it on the register, you are paid at the end. It’s that simple” , she says.
In Quebec, the province where the young nurse lives and works, there is what is called compulsory overtime (TSO) which is probably an inconvenience for some, she specifies.
” When you work this TSO, you are paid twice. One hour of work is 23 dollars. If you add one more mandatory shift, which is the TSO, you are paid double, or 46 dollars per hour, which is motivating for a large category of nurses. The final remuneration allows you to have a good standard of living, in addition to the social insurance which is also good“, she explains.
After recording this video, Hafssa Belline clarified that her intention is not to encourage nurses to come to Canada and further increase the shortage of medical professionals. But, she remains solicited on a daily basis by several of her sisters and brothers in Morocco, on the modalities of immigration.
” In Morocco, nothing motivates you to stay and work. Even if you have the will and you want to serve your country, there are many disadvantages and you find yourself fighting alone, which is not easy. And I speak knowingly because I lived that. I worked in deplorable conditions, and I found myself rowing alone against the current. After a while I let go. Even if the person is motivated and wants to give everything in the field he has chosen, when you do not find any support from those in charge, you end up letting go“, she lamented.
In Canada, the Order of Nurses encourages immigration and the reception of new profiles by offering them many advantages. ” In my case, I had to redo my training from the beginning, but for some, the order provides them with training and follow-up. He identifies each person’s shortcomings and helps them fill them. It also asks to know what your needs are, where you want to improve the most, etc. If you choose a field of training, they do it for you and you are paid more. Indeed, when you are in training, each hour is paid “explains the young nurse.
Recently, MoroccoLatestNews UK had learned from reliable sources that 13 nurses, who work at the provincial hospital of Mohamed Bouafi in Casablanca, had suddenly left their posts for Canada.
Having already been there and seen the state of play of this hospital, we understand better why health managers are leaving en masse, faced with the total carelessness of those responsible for the sector. Moreover, the last agreement signed between the government and the trade unions representing the sector was not welcomed by several professionals in the sector, in particular the nurses who felt that this agreement did not do them justice or respond to their demands.
Among the main claims of nurses and health technicians in Morocco is compensation for professional risks, which is not provided for in the agreement, in addition to grievances that do not generate any financial cost such as the creation of the order nurses and health technicians, the development of the employment and skills reference system (REC), the revision of promotion conditions in addition to the recruitment of graduates who suffer from unemployment and whose number amounts to some 6,000 laureates , knowing that the sector is experiencing a severe shortage of nurses and TS.