Mozambican health workers strike since Sunday

Mozambican health workers begin a 21-day general strike on Sunday, demanding the government “meet” the needs of the sector, including health workers who have been on strike since July 10.

“After consultations with members at the national level, there is nothing left for us but to inform the government about the resumption of the general strike of medical workers from 07:00 on August 20 for a duration of 21 days, which can be extended,” the president of the Association of United and Solidarity Medical Workers announced today in Maputo Mozambique (APSUSM), Nurse Anselmo Muchave, at a press conference.

On June 1, Mozambican medical workers had already demonstrated, culminating in the first strike in the country to “denounce the state of slavery” to which they are “subjected while providing their services”, suspended “by bilateral agreement”. after a round of negotiations held three days later, “with the rationale of giving the government the opportunity to implement the agreements reached within 15 days”, which, as Anselmo Mujave assured, did not happen.

“Of all the concerns presented by APSUSM, none of them were satisfied with tangible results, since there was only a report from the government of oral negotiations with persons that could not be proven, and that such negotiations actually took place. The government has 4.5 billion metics (64.6 million euros) for the upcoming October elections and has also purchased 45 luxury cars worth 120 million metics. [1,7 milhão de euros]. However, he does not have the money to buy a simple hospital bed or simple paracetamol,” he further criticized.

Among the demands placed on the government are “providing hospitals with medicines” that patients must purchase, acquiring hospital beds, addressing the “lack of food and adequate nutrition” in first-aid posts, equipping ambulances with emergency supplies for quick life support. or reusable personal protective equipment, the shortage of which “forces employees to buy them out of their own pocket.”

“As for the position of the worker, the government has categorically stated that he does not have the money to pay adequate wages to medical workers, even knowing that this is an acquired right and not a service,” he said.

He also blamed the government for the government “asking for a 60-day truce” in June, which “served to make death threats against APSUSM President Anselmo Mujava and persecute members of the association.”

“The government has not made any efforts to resolve the agreements reached, the results are consistent with the agreements,” he stressed, recalling that during the June negotiations, the association confirmed that if “within 60 days requested” by the executive branch, “the agreements will not be implemented and implemented the next day after the end of the period, the strike will resume.

The announcement of this strike by all professionals in the health sector was made on the eve of the general meeting of the Medical Association of Mozambique, scheduled for Sunday in Maputo, to decide whether to move on to the third period of the 21-day strike, which from 10 July will paralyze medical institutions throughout the country.

The general meeting has one item on the agenda: to decide on the extension of the class strike, protesting mainly against wage cuts, as part of the application of the new civil servant salary schedule and non-payment of overtime.

In this protest, doctors complain that the class-specific status is being violated by the government and also defend investments in the national healthcare system.

A meeting at the Faculty of Medicine of the Eduardo Mondlane University at 14:00 local time (13:00 in Lisbon) will take place after the Council of Ministers considers that the basic requirements of the class are not subject to law, not excluding the possibility of suspension of doctors who insist on protest, especially specialists in the categories of specialization and temporary appointment.