Assahafa.com
Morocco’s Minister of Health, Amine Tahraoui, has dismissed accusations of irregularities in the acquisition of medicines, asserting that the ministry “is not hiding anything” and operates in a manner that is “clear and transparent.”
Speaking during a meeting of the Social Sectors Committee of the House of Representatives today, Tahraoui said that institutional discussion within the committee is the “healthy and natural framework” for addressing concerns related to the health system, including monitoring public contracts, reviewing exceptional licenses, and responding to claims of conflict of interest.
His appearance came after Mustapha Baitas, Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in charge of Relations with Parliament, sent a letter to the Speaker of the House inviting him to convene the committee to examine issues “raised regarding the acquisition of medicines.”
The move followed remarks by Abdellah Bouanou, head of the PJD parliamentary group, during discussions on the draft finance bill.
Bouanou alleged that the Ministry of Health had granted “privileges” to certain companies in deals involving medicines and medical supplies.
During the November 13 plenary session to vote on the first part of the 2026 finance bill, Bouanou claimed the ministry had authorized the importation of potassium chloride through a temporary authorization for use (ATU) procedure, allegedly granting the operation to a government minister who owns a pharmaceutical company.
He added that the imported drug, described as essential for resuscitation, surgery, and anesthesia departments, was withdrawn because the packaging “contained information in Chinese.”
Tahraoui categorically rejected these claims. He stressed that all drug procurement operations “are carried out exclusively within the framework of the law,” through the public procurement system and in accordance with the decree governing public contracts, which sets out rules of competition, participation conditions, and principles of transparency and equal opportunity.
“These deals are subject to strict oversight by the relevant departments in the ministry,” he said, noting that tenders are published regularly on the official public procurement portal to ensure integrity.
He emphasized that “the acquisition of medicines, like all other public purchases, is not done through individual decisions or personal interpretations, but through binding and transparent public contracts that the administration respects.”
Responding specifically to Bouanou’s allegations regarding potassium chloride, the minister said the contract “was awarded to a local production company within a strict framework regulated by tenders,” firmly denying that it had been “given to a new company that only has a temporary license, as was claimed inside parliament.”
On the broader debate around conflict of interest, Tahraoui noted that public contracts “are not concluded with individuals, but with companies subject to commercial law.”
He added that the development of legal concepts related to conflict of interest “is not a sectoral issue,” but rather a legislative matter for parliament as a whole. The administration, he said, “is committed only to applying the laws as they are, without selectivity, interpretation, or discrimination.”
The minister also addressed the management of drug licenses. He recalled that this process was previously overseen by a directorate within the ministry, which had been the subject of investigative reports in 2009, 2015, and 2020.
These reports, he said, identified “structural imbalances” in the old management model and urged the creation of an independent national agency for medicines and health products.
Tahraoui said the current government acted on these recommendations by establishing the National Agency for Medicines and Health Products under Law 22.10.
The agency’s director, who attended the meeting, has already been appointed, a development the minister described as “a clear indication of the strategic importance of this institution.”
Source: Morocco word news
