Boudiaf to Echorouk: “Neglectful and failing Hospital Managers will be dismissed and even prosecuted”

The Minister of health, population and hospital reform, Abdelmalek Boudiaf, vowed in an exclusive interview with “Echorouk” not to waver to sack all health directors and health executives from their posts if they are found guilty of neglect and lapses in the smooth running of the country’s various health centers or clinics either in the public or in the private sector.

The Health minister said he would not keep silent in the face of the gross abuses and deficiencies recorded in the national health sector, stressing that draconian measures would be taken in order to clear the air and straighten out the already disquieting situation before things go further downhill.

Mr Abdelmalek Boudiaf further pointed out to “Echorouk” that henceforward, faulty and failing health managers and their assistants as well as health staff members would be fired from their positions and could even face legal proceedings before the courts for neglecting or shirking their bounden duty of properly taking care of ailing and sometimes helpless citizens in the various hospitals and health centers of the country.

At the same time, Mr Boudiaf called on all and sundry to be vigilant in the aftermath of the scandal marked by utter negligence and despicable practices exposed earlier this week by a public TV channel’s investigative documentary within the services of the obstetrics hospital in Constantine in eastern Algeria.

The health Minister, who did not hide his anger and disappointment at this unveiled disastrous situation he saw for himself as part of a field visit to this Constantine hospital on Saturday, ordered the closure of this health facility and also gave firm instructions to the Director of the hospital in the town of Didouche Mourad to open a new maternity ward within a fortnight to curtail the patients’ overload on other health centers in the region.