The Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education has decided to reduce the period of medical training in its nine public and private institutions from seven to six years, starting from 2023.

The decision to reduce the training period for medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry students by one year, informed by a growing shortage of healthcare professionals, was presented by Abdellatif Miraoui, the minister of higher education, in a note to the presidents of public universities published by Morocco World News earlier in 2022.

The decision aims at achieving the health framework standards set by the World Health Organization by 2025 and is in line with the objectives Morocco’s new development model wants to achieve by 2035. The model envisages medical services across the country through an increase in the number of high-quality healthcare professionals.

Medical students in Morocco spend five years in medical school, then join university hospitals from the sixth year as trainee doctors, and in the seventh year they join regional hospitals.