Moroccan nurses celebrate the birthday of a child infected with the COVID-19

By: Majida Ait Laktawi

It was a day full of celebrations. The nurses of the Provincial Hospital in El-Jadida city, located 189 km away from Rabat, did not miss celebrating the birthday of young Alaa, who was infected with the COVID-19.

Iman Hakoum, a night shift nurse, joined her colleagues to create the atmosphere of the celebration and decorated the room of the infected child.

“Our morning shift colleagues organized the first parties for Alaa and we all noticed that it was his birthday so we did not want to miss the opportunity of bringing him some fun,” the nurse working at the COVID-19 Patients Isolation Department told Tiny Hand.

“When it was time for our night shift, I and one of my colleague decorated the room and arranged for receiving the regional representative of the Ministry of Health and Director of the Hospital when they bring a cake and many birthday gifts in the evening.”

Hundreds of Moroccan children were infected with the COVID-19

Alaa who is still receiving treatment along with another child in the new Provincial Hospital is one of 546 Moroccan children, under 14, infected with the COVID-19.

Hundreds of infected children make 9% of the total number of 6063 cases recorded in Morocco as of May 11.  

El-Youbi, head of the Directorate of Epidemiology and Diseases Control, the Ministry of Health in Morocco, said that 93 percent of the children infected with the COVID-19 had mild symptoms and that only 1.3 percent had severe symptoms. 

Joy, singing, and fun 

It was a pleasant surprise for the 9-year-old Alaa. He danced, sang, chanted in support of his favorite football team, and took some pictures for memory.

Alaa was infected along with several members of his family who were admitted to the same hospital. They took part in the celebration arranged for him from their rooms without being allowed to come to his room.

It is not the first time that Dr. Jalal Asbagi, the representative of the Ministry of Health in Al-Jadida city, brings gifts to patient children. He had previously visited two children lying in the COVID-19 ward and gifted them with two electronic drawing tablets.

“The two affected children were bored. They were anxious and feeling awfully low,” Iman said. The representative visited them to check on their condition and promised to bring them a gift, and this what he really did.

The medical and nursing staff in the COVID-19 Patients Department give due care to their patients. They even give special care to children and treat them as if the “were their own kids”, where they receive great care and permanent psychological support,” said the Moroccan nurse.

International Nurses Day 2020: celebrating the sacrifices 

Nurses have always embodied the meanings of mercy and care in order to look after patients and help them. The nurses battling in the frontline against the COVID-19 receive full appreciation and respect for sacrificing their safety and lives.

On May 12 each year, the international community celebrates the “International Nurses Day”, a date which marks the birthday of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), a British national best known as for the founder of modern nursing.

The latest figures reported by the WHO show that “nursing and midwifery workers constitute about 50 percent of the health workforce globally”.  According to the figures, women represent 70 percent of the health and social workforces compared to their percentage in all employment sectors, which is 41%, where midwifery and nursing account for a large share of female workforce