The Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, urged Mozambican doctors to suspend their strike and return to work quickly in order to provide assistance to patients.
The request was made this Wednesday, 21 December, at the reception offered by the head of state to the heads of sovereign bodies and other national leaders on the occasion of the end of the year.
On the occasion, Nyusi expressed the desire to see doctors return to work, clarifying that such action does not signal abandonment of the negotiation process [on the Single Wage Table], for which the Government has always shown openness to continue, in order to find solutions to overcome some non-conformities.
The request by the head of state comes at a time when the country is in a particularly sensitive period – the festive season – when demand for medical services increases.
“To my brother doctors on strike, who are mostly young, our advice is to return to their posts and exploit your ability to quickly understand the phenomena. Doctors have a lot of flexibility to continue dialogue on the matter [TSU] with different sensitivities. The population is waiting for you, it needs you and we are available for everything”, declared the governor.
In the same vein, Filipe Nyusi explained that hiring foreign doctors will complement the work of national health professionals in various specialty areas that are lacking in the country.
“The foreign doctors are not coming to replace Mozambicans. They are coming exactly to complement the work. We have some problems in Cabo Delgado province and in Maputo Central Hospital. There are specialties that we don’t have in Mozambique, such as medical genetics, for example. In the whole country, there are only two specialist doctors, who are at the Central Hospital.”
The doctors’ strike began on the morning of Monday, 5 December, and was called by the Medical Association of Mozambique for a period of 21 extendable days.
At stake are the dissatisfactions arising from the Single Wage Scale (TSU).
