Travel to Morocco

[kzlorenz]

Hi, I'd like to visit Marrakesh and Fes this winter and I wanted to know if there are going to be many problems if I had to need to get supplies and to see a competent doctor (I have a diabetes insurance). Any tips? Things to absolutely avoid??
Many thanks.

 

[Jason_Avoneg]

I've gone to Turkey, Canada, Netherlands, Lanzarote and somewhere else I can't remember with insulin and there's been no issues at all!

Just in case though I did get a print out from my docs of my usual medications to prove that I've rightly been prescribed, as I had some other meds that could be an issue.

 

[catapillar]

Just take what you need with you, as you would for any holiday, one would hope.

Be aware that you might be fairly likely to get a small bout of dodgy tummy in Morocco. I mean mine might have been caused by accidentally eating something that I think was pigeon...

I think the Moroccan mint tea is made with a pretty generous helping of sugar.

I wasn't diabetic when I went to Morocco. They are a Muslim country, but seemed fairly relaxed about tourists wandering round not terribly conservatively dressed. Marrakesh and Fez are both pretty big cosmopolitan cities, well used to tourists. But I might just make more of an effort than usual to be discrete when injecting or be a bit choosier about which area of flesh to expose when doing it. ... Oh just checked, you're a boy, so probably don't need to worry so much about that!

 

[Celsus]

Hi @kzlorenz,
Due to my professional job, I travel once or so per year to Morocco, visiting hospitals in Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech. The caring staff is always very friendly and many of the doctors actually educated in Europe or the US. They typically also speak either French or English. But please absolute signup for private travel insurance before going there! The public hospitals are typically very crowded, not well equipped and the caring standard quite below what you will be used to in Europe. So make sure you would have access to the private hospitals and their specialist doctors via your insurance in case you would need them when going there. At those locations you will find very good staff and facilities near/equal to the European standards in most respects.

With regards to access to insulin and other equipment, then please ensure to bring extras yourself, as you should for traveling anywhere outside your home country! The public service is not offering the wealth of extravagant choices as most Europeans are used to. And even with money, such products are not always available. At best they can get it to you, but the time to deliver will be uncertain. So OK for basic insulins with pens/syringes etc. But fancy spare parts for a pump or CGM meters cannot be easily found.

Bring the local phone numbers for your UK embassy/consulate in Morocco, as they typically would be able to help you in case you have an emergency needing a specialist doctor or urgent supplies. The British expats are also very good in networking, so would expect you also can find some of those living in Morocco having diabetes. They would know how to get care/equipment best way possible locally in Morocco, so maybe worth a try:
https://www.internations.org/morocco-expats/british

Have a great trip !

PS: Do not feed the snake charmers.

 

[kzlorenz]

Hi @Celsus many thanks for the great reply.