The medical profession in Mozambique is threatening to paralyse its activities in the coming days, allegedly due to the failure to comply with the agreement made with the government during the last strike.
The agreement included, among other things, pay issues and improved working conditions.
The president of the Mozambican Medical Association (AMM), Napoleão Viola, said that only the basic aspects of the demands had been met, such as the delay in the payment of doctors’ allowances.
Without explaining in detail, Napoleão Viola told Saturday’s edition of “O País” that more than 11 months have passed since the signing of agreements with the government, but so far only 25 per cent of what was agreed has been fulfilled.
“We held our strike last year. The second phase ended after an agreement was reached between the government and the leadership of the Medical Association.” The agreement stipulated that, “among other things, in addition to pay issues, there would be an improvement in working conditions for our clients in the National Health Service, but that didn’t happen”.
The other aspect leading to a new strike, according to Viola, has to do with the executive’s lack of openness to dialogue, with a view to finding solutions to the problems affecting the profession.
“Since the end of February, to date, the government has not been open to dialogue. That’s why the medical profession met to analyse the state of dialogue” between the parties and concluded that there is “no dialogue at all”. As a result, “unfortunately for all of us, the only way left for the middle class is to go for a position that we would all like to avoid”.
AIM
