Dr. Hassan Bouhafid

Dr. Hassan Bouhafid is a senior orthopaedic and trauma surgeon at CHU Ibn Sina in Rabat — one of Morocco's leading university hospitals and the principal teaching hospital affiliated with the Université Mohammed V medical faculty. With 19 years of orthopaedic surgical experience, he is among Morocco's most accomplished arthroplasty surgeons, performing a high volume of total hip and total knee replacements each year alongside a broad elective and trauma orthopaedic practice.

Trained in arthroplasty at a specialist centre in Lyon, France — a city with a long tradition of excellence in joint replacement surgery — Dr. Bouhafid returned to Morocco with advanced technical skills in both primary and complex revision joint replacement. He has developed and sustained an arthroplasty programme at CHU Ibn Sina that represents one of the highest-volume joint replacement services in Morocco's public hospital system, providing access to definitive surgical treatment for osteoarthritis patients who would previously have had limited options outside of private facilities or medical travel to Europe.

In addition to joint replacement, Dr. Bouhafid is experienced in spinal surgery, arthroscopy, and orthopaedic oncology, making him one of the most broadly skilled orthopaedic surgeons in the Rabat region. He is an active contributor to the Société Marocaine de Chirurgie Orthopédique et Traumatologique (SMCOT) and to the orthopaedic residency training programme at CHU Ibn Sina.

Dr. Bouhafid completed his undergraduate medical degree and his specialist DES (Diplôme d'Etudes Spécialisées) in Orthopaedic and Traumatological Surgery at the Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie of the Université Mohammed V in Rabat. His residency training at CHU Ibn Sina provided exposure to the full breadth of orthopaedic trauma and elective surgery — from complex polytrauma fracture fixation to elective spine and joint procedures.

Following his DES, Dr. Bouhafid undertook a competitive fellowship in arthroplasty at a specialist orthopaedic centre in Lyon, France, where he trained under high-volume joint replacement surgeons using both cemented and uncemented implant systems. Lyon has been at the forefront of arthroplasty technique in the French-speaking world, and his fellowship provided grounding in the full spectrum of primary hip and knee replacement — including less invasive surgical approaches, bearing surface selection, and implant fixation philosophies — as well as experience in complex revision arthroplasty for failed primary replacements.

He has since participated in advanced orthopaedic courses in spine surgery, arthroscopic techniques, and orthopaedic oncology, maintaining currency across the breadth of his practice. He is a regular attendee at SMCOT's annual congress and at European orthopaedic meetings including EFORT (the European Federation of National Associations of Orthopaedics and Traumatology).

Dr. Bouhafid's primary subspecialty expertise is arthroplasty — the surgical replacement of diseased joints with prosthetic implants. He performs both total hip replacement (THA) and total knee replacement (TKA) using cemented and cementless fixation strategies tailored to patient age, bone quality, and implant manufacturer protocols. He has particular experience with the posterior and anterior approaches to THA, applying less invasive techniques where indicated to reduce soft tissue disruption and accelerate recovery. Revision arthroplasty — the technically demanding removal and replacement of failed primary implants — is an important part of his practice, as the growing volume of primary replacements performed in Morocco increases demand for revision procedures.

In spinal surgery, Dr. Bouhafid performs lumbar microdiscectomy and laminectomy for disc herniation and spinal stenosis, and undertakes lumbar fusion for degenerative instability. Cervical spine surgery for disc disease and myelopathy is also within his practice scope. His arthroscopic work encompasses knee arthroscopy (ACL reconstruction, meniscal repair and resection, cartilage procedures) and shoulder arthroscopy (rotator cuff repair, acromioplasty).

Fracture surgery is a core component of his trauma practice at CHU Ibn Sina — a busy trauma centre — covering proximal femur fractures (hip fractures in the elderly), tibial plateau fractures, ankle fractures, and distal radius fractures, managed with plates, screws, intramedullary nails, and external fixators as appropriate. He also provides orthopaedic oncology input for bone tumour cases — both primary bone sarcomas and metastatic bone disease — working in the hospital's multidisciplinary oncology team.

Dr. Bouhafid has been involved in clinical research within CHU Ibn Sina's orthopaedic department, contributing to retrospective analyses of arthroplasty outcomes in the Moroccan public hospital setting, including implant survival rates, complication profiles, and patient-reported outcome measures following total hip and knee replacement. This work contributes to the evidence base for arthroplasty practice in a North African, French-speaking clinical context — distinct from the European populations on which most arthroplasty literature is based.

He has presented research and surgical technique papers at the SMCOT annual congress and at pan-African orthopaedic symposia. He is a contributor to SMCOT's clinical practice guidelines for arthroplasty and fracture management, helping translate international evidence into guidance appropriate for the Moroccan healthcare system. He maintains an academic interest in the outcomes of cementless versus cemented THA in younger Moroccan patients — a relevant question given Morocco's growing middle-aged arthroplasty population — and in the optimization of perioperative blood management protocols to reduce transfusion requirements in elective joint replacement.

Morocco is an established medical tourism destination for orthopaedic procedures, particularly among Moroccan diaspora patients in France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands who choose to combine specialist surgery with a return to their home country. CHU Ibn Sina has the infrastructure to receive international patients, and Dr. Bouhafid has extensive experience coordinating elective orthopaedic procedures — particularly joint replacement — for patients travelling from abroad.

The cost of total hip or knee replacement at a Moroccan university hospital is a fraction of the equivalent procedure in France, Belgium, or Spain, making medical travel for elective arthroplasty economically attractive even when travel costs are included. Dr. Bouhafid conducts a thorough pre-operative assessment — including review of prior imaging, implant selection, and anaesthetic risk stratification — and provides comprehensive post-operative documentation in French or English for follow-up by physiotherapists and orthopaedic surgeons in the patient's home country.

He is also experienced managing patients from sub-Saharan Africa referred to Rabat for complex fracture management or orthopaedic tumour surgery. Rabat's international airport provides direct connections to Paris, Brussels, Madrid, London, and multiple African capitals.

Dr. Bouhafid is a member in good standing of the Société Marocaine de Chirurgie Orthopédique et Traumatologique (SMCOT) and has served on its scientific committee, contributing to the organisation's educational programme and to the development of national orthopaedic practice standards. His contributions to the development of arthroplasty services within the Moroccan public hospital system have been recognised by CHU Ibn Sina's clinical leadership.

He has been acknowledged by the Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie at Université Mohammed V for his teaching contributions to the orthopaedic surgery residency programme, where he supervises DES residents through complex operative cases and the structured development of surgical judgement. His bicultural Moroccan-French surgical training and his trilingual capability have also made him a valued representative of Moroccan orthopaedics at international meetings, where he regularly represents the SMCOT. He continues to advocate for improved access to arthroplasty services within Morocco's public hospital system, where waiting times for elective joint replacement remain a challenge in regions outside of the major university hospital centres.