Morocco’s public health sector was left crippled by a general strike on Wednesday taken by medics in all public health institutions, except for emergency departments and intensive care units. The strike, which lasts until Thursday, is the third of its kind in less than two months, with rifts widening between health professionals and the government since September. The Secretary-General of the Union of Independent Medical Practitioners Dr. Al-Muntar Al-Alawi stressed that no initiative has been taken by the Government in terms of responding to demands being made. More so, the union declared a boycott of non-medical administrative work and medical convoys, which it slams as “indiscriminate and politically compromised.” The strike comes just one week after a national rally was organized in Rabat, upon a call sent out by an independent association of private doctors. Among the demands being made by medics nationwide, are better working conditions, salaries and social benefits for doctors. “The time has come for the government to shoulder its responsibilities in preventing any worsening of the current situation,” the union’s statement read. It also gave emphasis to the need to end deplorable conditions doctors work in. The statement further argued that despite medics being prominent caretakers and life savers, their efforts are met with no benefit or any form of consideration, material, or moral recognition by the Health Ministry.