HIBAPRESS – Oujda
Social tension has escalated within the Mohammed VI University Hospital Center in Oujda, following a protest and march by nursing and health staff affiliated with the Independent Union of Nurses and Health Technicians within the center on Wednesday, October 14th. Their planned march was subsequently banned, in protest against the continued deprivation of their compensation rights for guard duty for three consecutive years (2024, 2025, and 2026).
In a proactive step to contain the crisis, the union's university office sent an urgent letter to the governor of the Oriental Region and the prefect of Oujda-Angad province, demanding urgent intervention to resolve this issue and disburse the outstanding financial dues. Hafid Baraka, the local union secretary, confirmed that the nursing and health teams regularly performed guard duties according to approved schedules without receiving their financial compensation.
According to data released by the union office, the core of the problem lies in the treasury departments not approving the formula for settling these compensations, which has hindered the disbursement process despite the existence of organizational reference and legal framework. The letter noted the issuance of Decree No. 2.25.1067 dated January 8, 2026, and Ministerial Decision No. 650.26 issued on March 25, 2026, which clearly define the method for settling and approving guard duty compensations.
The Independent Union also condemned what it described as a "discrepancy and paradox" in dealing with the staff's file, pointing out that employees and nurses from the Ministry of Health in other sectors, as well as health teams at the Tangier University Hospital Center, have benefited from the disbursement of their dues based on the same organizational formula, while the staff of "CHU Oujda" are still deprived of their dues for three consecutive years.
Given the deadlock in dialogue and the University Hospital Center's administration's closure of communication channels, protesters raised sharp slogans this morning denouncing what they considered "unjustified procrastination," demanding the immediate release of their dues without conditions. Despite the decision to ban the protest march on the ground, participants insisted on making their voices heard to express their rejection of the continuation of this injustice.
As the tension reached its peak, the governor of the Oriental Region intervened in the crisis by inviting the Independent Union of Nurses to sit at the dialogue table. This provincial initiative aims to open direct negotiation and defuse tension in the region's health sector by finding a consensus solution that guarantees the rights of health workers and ends the delay in disbursing their accumulated financial dues.
