Mati Nejmi:

My first interest in the field of pain began when I was designated to be the Head of Department of Anaesthesiology and Care at the National Institute of Oncology in Rabat. I was suddenly affected by the severe pain that the majority of them have. I asked a French friend of mine in Paris to come to Morocco and make a conference of how to manage their patients. The first survey was done at the end of 1994 and morphine use started in March 1995. I founded the Moroccan Society of Study of Pain in July 1996. Managing pain is now a national priority since April 2003. The Ministry of Health gave us 1 million dollars for building a new National Centre of Pain and Palliative Care to have more capacity to treat cancer pain but also HIV patients with pain and chronic pain in general.⁸