Africa-Press – Cape verde. Mozambican health professionals announced this Monday that they will continue with the strike due to the lack of consensus with the Government, which they accuse of “moral harassment and intimidation”, in addition to refusing to pay overtime in full.
“Our strike will continue until the Government complies with what was agreed”, said the president of the Association of United and Solidary Health Professionals of Mozambique (APSUSM), Anselmo Muchave, at a press conference today in Maputo , about the strike that began on April 29th.
He clarified that during the first week of the strike, health professionals returned to the negotiating table with the Government, which, he said, continues to refuse to accept demands, such as the availability of medical material and improvement of working conditions.
“The refusal to provide fair payment to workers also prevails, paying overtime in full for 2023, as well as risk and shift allowances”, stated the president of APSUSM.
Muchave said that in the last week, 327 patients died in the country’s health units, most of them children, due to difficulties in receiving medical care.
“There are more cases of children, but also adults with serious and chronic illnesses, cases of patients who needed surgery or who suffered accidents. There are also deaths due to lack of care,” she detailed.
He also accused clinical directors of coercing health professionals to suspend the strike and return to their jobs.
“We are stunned by the bullying and intimidation. They coerce professionals to go to work under threat of marking absences, opening disciplinary proceedings, calling for meetings and transfers to distant locations”, said Muchave, adding that the strike, which currently has the support of 90% of health professionals, will Continue.
Another strategy used to pressure the class, he added, is the placement of nursing and medical students to care for patients.
“If our appeal is not responded to, we will be forced to completely suspend these minimum services,” said Muchave.
More than 50,000 health professionals joined the strike that began on April 29, said the president of the Association of United and Solidarity Health Professionals of Mozambique, noting that talks are ongoing with the Government.
The Ministry of Health (Misau) of Mozambique stated on the same day that there were “no reasons” for the resumption of the strike, and guaranteed that it would “ensure the continuity of the provision of health services to the population”.
“Misau understands that there are no reasons to call the aforementioned strike and reiterates that dialogue must continue to be the way to resolve challenges in the Health sector”, reads a statement regarding the start of the strike.
The return to strike had been scheduled for March 28, but it was suspended a day earlier following talks with the Mozambican Government that culminated in the fulfillment of some points of the demand, such as the qualification of health professionals, monitoring visits to hospital units and the resolution of irregularities in the payment of subsidies, APSUSM said at the time.
Almost 30 days after the suspension of the strike, Mozambican health professionals once again complained about government non-compliance and failure to carry out visits to monitor compliance with agreements between the parties, saying that hospitals “are worse than at the beginning of the dialogue”.
Among other aspects, APSUSM requires the Government to provide medicines to hospitals, which in some cases have to be purchased by patients, the acquisition of hospital beds, the resolution of the “lack of food” problem, as well as medical equipment ambulances with emergency materials and non-disposable personal protective equipment, the lack of which is “forcing employees to buy out of their own pockets”.
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