The post-election demonstrations in Mozambique have affected surgery in the country, leading to an increase in patients on waiting lists for procedures, health authorities warned on Wednesday.
“In the last three months alone, with these post-election demonstrations, we’ve had patients and health professionals who haven’t been able to access the health units and, as a result, waiting lists have been getting longer,” the national director of medical assistance, Luísa Panguene, said at a press conference in Maputo.
According to Panguene, there are currently around 1,000 patients waiting for surgical procedures throughout the country.
“If this surgery doesn’t take place within the expected timeframe, the patient’s clinical situation could worsen, which could even result in death or the need for emergency surgery,” she said.
Panguene explained that to reduce health waiting lists, Mozambique’s government has launched a campaign to speed up surgery in the country’s main hospitals.
“We’re going to carry out 500 surgeries in these first 100 days of government and prioritising starting them in the central hospitals. We’re talking about the central hospitals in Maputo, Beira, Quelimane and Nampula,” she added.
Health is one of the sectors most affected by the post-election demonstrations in Mozambique.
As of 27 December, the government had counted at least 77 health vehicles destroyed during the protests, with an estimated €14.3 million in medical supplies lost due to the destruction of the medicine supply centre.
It is also estimated that around 1,800 health units were affected by the country’s demonstrations against the 9 October election results.
On Monday, Mozambique’s Minister of Health, Ussene Isse, acknowledged “challenges” in making medical supplies, including drugs, available in health units following the destruction and vandalisation of a drug supply centre in Maputo during demonstrations.
Speaking at the end of a visit to a medicine supply centre that was burnt and destroyed in Maputo during post-election protests, Ussene Isse said that the losses at the site, of more than 500 million meticais (€7.4 million), were “a tragedy”.
Mozambique has been experiencing severe social unrest since 21 October. Former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who rejected the 9 October election results, called for demonstrations and stoppages.
The protests, now on a smaller scale, have taken place in different parts of the country. In addition to contesting the results, people are complaining about the rising cost of living and other social problems.
Since October, at least 327 people have died, including around two dozen minors, and around 750 have been shot during the protests, according to the electoral platform Decide, a non-governmental organisation that monitors electoral processes.
Lusa
