Minister of Health and Social Protection, Amine Tahraoui, announced on Tuesday at the House of Councillors the launch of preparations for a national strategy on mental health in all its dimensions.
In his response to a verbal question regarding the “suffering of individuals with mental health disorders,” brought forward by the Socialist team – the opposition, during the oral questions session, the government official stated that the ministry is accompanying the reform of the legal and regulatory framework concerning mental health by reviewing the legal framework for mental health and establishing therapeutic protocols for priority disorders.
Tahraoui confirmed that the ministry is committed to enhancing specialized health services despite challenges related to a shortage of qualified human resources and their uneven distribution, emphasizing that the number of specialists in mental health and psychiatry reached 3,230 health professionals by 2025.
The minister highlighted that these professionals include 319 psychiatrists in the public sector and 274 in the private sector, as well as 62 child psychiatrists in the public sector and 14 in the private sector, along with 1,700 mental health nurses in the public sector.
He noted that 123 financial positions have been allocated for the sector during the years 2024-2025, including 34 psychiatrists and 89 specialized mental health nurses, adding that the ministry has worked to increase the number of educational seats in higher nursing schools and health technology institutes, and to coordinate with the higher education sector to activate regional practical training committees and implement the framework agreement signed in 2022 to intensify training and research in this area by 2030.
Regarding services, Tahraoui stated that the ministry is working, within the framework of the multi-sectoral national strategic plan for mental health 2030, to generalize integrated mental health services in public hospitals, develop outpatient psychiatric consultation units, establish teams to manage psychosocial crises, and enhance psychological and social rehabilitation services.
