The High Council of Moroccan American Medical and Biology Doctors (HC-MAMBD) Met His Excellency Mohamed Ameur, Minister in Charge of Moroccans Living Abroad
By Abdelmajid Kassem
The High Council of Moroccan American Medical & Biology
Doctors (HC-MAMBD; http://www.hc-mambd.org) met His Excellency Mohamed Ameur,
Moroccan Minister Delegate in Charge of Moroccans Living Abroad at New York University Medical Center, New York University, NY. The meeting took place
Thursday October 1, 2009 from 5 to 7:30 pm. The Minister was accompanied by the
Moroccan Council General in New York City Mr. Mohamed Karmoune and several
guests.
The
Minister and his guests were received by Drs. Allal Boutajangout and Abdelmajid
Kassem (Council’s President and Vice President, respectively) who guided them
through NYUMedicalCenter. The team visited the Laboratory of Physiology,
Neuroscience, and Psychiatry and met the Lab head Dr. Einar Sigurdsson, an
expert in Alzheimer’s disease, who assured the Minister that he is ready to
accept Moroccan students to study towards their Masters and PhD degrees in his
Lab at NYU provided that they have their own scholarships and fellowships.
After
a tour of the department, the team proceeded to the Simlow conference room 601A
where other members of the council and guests were present. At the conference
room, Dr. Thomas Wisniewski, Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, and
Neurosciences who is an expert in Alzheimer’s disease also welcomed the
Minister and his guests as well as the members of the council to NYUMedicalCenter.Dr. Wisniewski also assured
the Minister that he is also ready to accept several Moroccan students in his
Lab at NUY.
After
that, Dr. Boutajangout welcomed the Minister and presented the program of the
meeting that started with a talk of the Minister Mohamed Ameur. The Minister congratulated
the council for its work and dedication. He also mentioned his meetings with
several Moroccan organizations in Canada and US which are all ready to contribute to the
development of our beloved country Morocco. However, we all face several challenges among
which are: What to do? And how to proceed? Therefore, we need real and tangible
programs that will lead to tangible outcomes. The Minister also stated that Morocco is ready today more than before to work with all
Moroccan competencies abroad. His Excellency also mentioned that many Moroccan
companies and individuals already returned to their native country and
contribute to its development but others can help from their adopted countries wherever
they are. Another challenge facing the Moroccan government is how to cense
Moroccan experts abroad, prepare databases of their expertise, organizations,
and start programs between them and Morocco. The Minister then gave an example of Moroccan
experts living in Germany and the programs they started with Morocco.
In
his brief talk after the Minister, the Council General of the Kingdom of Morocco in NY thanked the Minister for his visit and the council for its
efforts to help and contribute in the development and advancement of research,
science, and education in Morocco.
The
Council’s President, Dr. Allal Boutajangout, gave a brief history about the
council, its foundation in June 2008, and presented its Board Members. Then he
talked about the noble goals of the council which are to unite Moroccan Medical
Doctors, Pharmacists, and Biologists (PhDs), tie collaborations between them
here in the US, and between them and Moroccan institutions and individual researchers.
Dr. Boutajangout also mentioned that the council is ready to accept Moroccan
students and researchers in US institutions because most of its members are well
established experts in their fields in US institutions. He also highlighted
several activities of the council in Morocco and US since its creation. Dr. Boutajangout also
mentioned the collaboration in progress between the council and the Moroccan
CNRST. This collaboration was initiated by the council through the Minister’s (Mr.
Mohamed Ameur) Cabinet.
After
the President’s presentation, Prof. Mohamed Boutjdir talked about the secrets
of success of nations among which he mentioned: (1) Strategic investments in
revolutionary technologies that empower individuals, societies, and bring
prosperity to nations, (2) Investment in scientific research and development (R&D)
that lead to discoveries which enhance critical thinking, creates an economic
motor, and lead to human prosperity. Prof. Boutjdir then gave the current state
of the approximately 200 universities in the Arab World which have almost no
ties to the industry and spend less than 1% of their budget in R&D compared
to an average of 35% in the West. He also mentioned that in the Arab World,
only 0.5% of the GDP is spent in R&D compared to 3% in Japan, 2.7% in US, and 1.9% in Europe (EU). Prof.
Boutjdir then presented the council’s long term vision to (1) promote a long
term economic development, (2) reinforce the capacities of infrastructure and
management, (3) establish durable scientific collaborations between various
Moroccan Governments departments, industries, and universities, (4) implement
programs that will allow the participation of Moroccan scientists, engineers, and
other experts living abroad, (5) establish partnerships between Moroccan
institutions and institutions where Moroccans living abroad work, (6) establish
virtual databases of all Moroccan experts living abroad with their expertise
and creation of groups and subgroups depending on the expertise, and (7)
identify the needs of Moroccan industries and academic institutions, etc.
Prof.
My Abdelmajid Kassem then talked about the creation of KBM Scientific
Publishing, LP (KBM-SPLP; website coming soon:
www.kbm-scientific-publishing.org) by three members of the council (Drs. Kassem, Boutajangout, and Meksem).
KBM-SPLP is a partnership specialized in publishing high quality peer-reviewed
online journals and books in most scientific fields(1). KBM-SPLP has
currently 14 journals and the list is growing. Its Advisory Board and Editorial
Boards of its journals are well known experts in their fields. Prof. Kassem
also talked about the fact that the council launched its own scientific journal
called “KBM Journal of Biology” which is hosted and published by KBM-SPLP and
of which he (Dr. Kassem) serves as the Editor-In-Chief. KBM-SPLP invited
several Moroccan scientists to participate in the Editorial Boards of its
journals and is open to Moroccan scientists and scientists worldwide to publish
the findings of their research investigations. Prof. Kassem stressed the fact
that KBM-SPLP will certainly contribute to the advancement of science in
Morocco (and the world) by increasing the number of publications by Moroccan
scientists which is in decline according to a recent study published by Prof. Hamid
Bouabid (Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research) and
collaborators in the journal Scientometrics(2).
A
session of Q&A followed during which the Minister answered several
questions asked by the council’s members. At the end, the Minister, the Council
General, and guests were pleased with the council’s presentations,
achievements, and wished the council success in its future activities.
The
council’s meeting with the Minister was organized and scheduled by Mrs. Khadija
Sansar, the Minister’s Administrative Assistant of Communication and Relations.
Therefore, the council’s Board of Directors would like to express their
gratitude to Mrs. Sansar for her efforts to schedule this meeting.
Abdelmajid Kassem is a Professor at FayettevilleStateUniversity, Fayetteville, NC, USA
(2) Bouabid Hamid and
Ben R Martin. Evaluation of Moroccan research using a bibliometric-based approach:
investigation of the validity of the h-index. Scientometrics 78 (2): 203–217
I just came bak from Morocco. My heart goes out to the sick people who seek medical care in Morocco, to no avail. My own father is in his late stage of Alzheimer's. Those who do not know what is is like, especially in its final stage, believe me, you do not want to have this desease in Morocco especially. Of all the issues I had to deal with, the Arrogance of the MD's in Morocco, and probably their ignorance and inabiliy or lack of willingness to communicate with the patient's families.
Frankly, everytime I go, I come back angry. The health care system in Morocco angers me, with all the lack of services needed, the ultimate arrogance of the medical personnel, even in Shikh Zayed Hospital, considered one of the best.
What does it take for Moroccans to do their job well? I wish I could pull my dad our of his misery or out of Morocco and bring him to the USA for some treatment, but in his mid 80's, there is no way to bring him here. So, Let's just say, we can only drop everything here, and go there everytime just to get filled with deception, anger and a feeling of hoplessness.
You know how civil a country is, when you see how it treats its elderly. Let me just add that the pain of my situation cannot even compare to that of the people who cannot even afford medical care. My heart truly bleeds for them. I wish someone, and I have no hopes, would try to change this situation.
So, I tell all Moroccans abroad, to seriously think about their old age before considering staying in the USA or going back to Morocco. It is an alarming issue, and Morocco, in my opinion is a death trap for those who dream of retiring there.
Allahou al mousta'ane.
mike1172 : What make me sick in Morocco is that if u have an accident or were very sick , they will not accept you ina private clinic or hospital unless you issue a certified check,
private clinics use their own laws, no moroccan lawyers voted on a bill that private clinics or polyclinic accept certified checks or cash in order to admit a patience.
why dont our modern minister of health who is trying to manage the health care system to look @ these matters.
bahrini : SueRabat,
The system must have contributed with something positive to have kept you father around till his eighties, alah ytawal le3mar. As for the arrogance of the professionals! hmm, how do i say this?? well, some of us go back and expect special treatment because we are "Americans", and that triggers the arrogance in many over there.
Be careful, and be nice and courteous. Alah ysehhal
Adil,
issam900 : It is sad but true that Morocco loses hundreds of thousands of its citizens year over year due to a lacking healthcare system that cannot deliver the very basics to the needy. I am however proud of HC-MAMMBD for taking the initiative and with its own finances, it helps those in need by providing them a 100 % free service for the sake of having a healthier population. Rural Morocco needs it, and perhaps this model can expand in the rest of Africa and the other continents.
Issam S. Sadak
sueRabat : Salame aleycum
Adil, thank you very much. I must just tell you that unlike so many in this world, when it comes to my father, I will not be nice if he gets abused or mistreated. I do not know how some people treat their parents, but in my case, I treat them better than I would treat myself. Be that as it may, the Moroccan health care profesionals remain arrogant, ill trained & mostly corrupt.
Adil: Condoning such failing system is another face of corruption. It takes a transparent honest people to condemn a corrupt system, instead of trying to defend it.
Oct.20, 2009
nadiacal : salam,
I have seeing and heard so many weird things about being sick in Morocco, one of the last thing it's when you have a baby, the nurse may slap you, and after the delivry most of the time they wrapp the baby in newspaper and they send you home, the hosiptals don't smell good and they are dirthy so you may be more sick when yhou go their, you have to bring you own sheets and medication, most of the time they steal it, and the even steal your food, so can please somebody tell me, what type of human are working in hospital over there?
knockoutfatiha : So there is a Moroccan "in charge" of Moroccans in America? Don't they get it.... Moroccans voted with their feet, and Morocco lost. Great country, great people, good food, ect. But the healthcare system? Corrupt, inept, inefectual, like most institutions in the country.
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