Mauritania's Ministry of Health has reaffirmed that the transfer and assignment of general practitioners for 2026 will follow merit-based, transparent criteria, following union criticism over the process and calls for greater fairness and oversight.
The Mauritanian Ministry of Health has issued a statement clarifying that the transfer and assignment process for general practitioners registered for 2026 will be conducted according to predefined, merit-based and transparent criteria. The ministry emphasized that the process is designed to prevent any subjective interference or discretionary decisions.
According to the ministry, the reassignment of doctors is managed through a digital platform, in line with decree No. 32 dated 13 August 2026. Assignments are determined by the ranking of doctors based on their examination results. A second phase will allocate doctors to health centers within departments, using the same merit-based approach.
Ministry Responds to Union Concerns
The ministry further stated that doctors who were already working in the interior before passing the exam and who have since qualified will also be subject to the same transfer and allocation mechanism. The ministry stressed that this policy applies to all affected doctors without exception.
The clarification follows public criticism from the Syndicat des médecins généralistes mauritaniens, which expressed dissatisfaction with the ministry's handling of the doctor allocation process. The union cited concerns over transparency, fairness, and equal opportunity, and highlighted issues such as incomplete reliance on merit rankings, lack of specification of health centers on the selection platform, use of provisional rankings, and the absence of doctor representatives during the drafting of allocation records.
Union Boycott and Next Steps
In response to these concerns, the union announced it would boycott the health center selection platform and abstain from participating in the process until its demands for greater transparency and correction of the identified irregularities are met.
The dispute underscores ongoing tensions between the health ministry and medical professionals over recruitment and assignment practices, with implications for the distribution of healthcare personnel across Mauritania's regions.
Source: saharamedias.net
