Dr. Fatima Zahra Benali

Dr. Fatima Zahra Benali is a pulmonologist at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) Ibn Sina in Rabat — Morocco's principal teaching hospital and the academic medical referral centre affiliated with the Mohammed V University Faculty of Medicine. With 15 years of specialist respiratory medicine experience, she manages the full spectrum of lung disease prevalent in Morocco.

Morocco's respiratory disease profile includes a persistent TB burden (Morocco is a moderate-incidence country by WHO classification, with significant urban transmission in Casablanca and Rabat), high rates of tobacco-related COPD in men, rising asthma prevalence linked to urbanisation and air pollution, and lung cancer increasingly diagnosed at advanced stages. Dr. Benali's practice addresses all these conditions, combining TB programme supervision, COPD and asthma management, and diagnostic and therapeutic bronchoscopy.

She is a member of the Société Marocaine de Pneumologie et de Phthisiologie (SMPP) and maintains strong ties with French respiratory medicine through the Société de Pneumologie de Langue Française (SPLF). She consults in Arabic and French.

Dr. Benali completed her Docteur en Médecine at Université Mohammed V in Rabat and her Diplôme d'Études Spécialisées (DES) in Pneumologie through the Moroccan specialist training system. She holds the DESC (Diplôme d'Études Spécialisées Complémentaires) in Pulmonology and has completed advanced bronchoscopy training. She has participated in SPLF and ERS (European Respiratory Society) continuing education programmes and has attended international tuberculosis and COPD management training workshops.

Dr. Benali's pulmonology practice encompasses both medical and interventional respiratory medicine. She performs fibreoptic bronchoscopy for diagnosis of lung cancer (with endobronchial biopsy), infectious lung disease (BAL for PCP, AFB), and foreign body retrieval. Spirometry and pulmonary function testing are performed for diagnosis and staging of obstructive and restrictive lung disease. She manages pleural disease with thoracentesis, pleural biopsy, and chemical pleurodesis for malignant effusions.

In TB management, she supervises DOTS therapy, manages MDR-TB in collaboration with the national TB programme, and performs tuberculin skin testing. Her asthma and COPD practice uses GINA and GOLD guidelines with step-up pharmacotherapy, and she manages sleep-disordered breathing including initiation of CPAP for obstructive sleep apnoea.

CHU Ibn Sina in Rabat receives Moroccan diaspora patients from France, Spain, Belgium, and other European countries who return for specialist respiratory care during extended stays in Morocco. Dr. Benali consults in Arabic and French. Video consultations are available for second opinions on chest imaging and spirometry results. Morocco's position as a moderate-cost Mediterranean healthcare destination attracts European Moroccan diaspora patients seeking pulmonology care during their time in the country.

Dr. Benali is a member of the Société Marocaine de Pneumologie et de Phthisiologie and the Société de Pneumologie de Langue Française. She has received recognition from CHU Ibn Sina for her contribution to pulmonology education and TB programme management. She has presented research on TB outcomes and COPD management in Morocco at SMPP and international ERS-affiliated meetings and participates in Morocco's national respiratory disease control programme.