Mozambique: No more limiting access to hospitals based on clothes, hairstyle – Minister

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Mozambique: No more limiting access to hospitals based on clothes, hairstyle – Minister

3:23 CAT | 04 Sep 2020

Photo: Zambeze

The Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday that it will outlaw the [unwritten] rule limiting access to health services based on clothing or appearance, after a petition was filed by a non-governmental organisation.

The National Directorate of Medical Assistance will “prepare a circular to guide the clinical directorates of hospitals so as not to limit the access of users to the national service on the grounds of their attire,” a Ministry of Health document that Lusa had access to on Thursday reads.

The document, signed by Minister of Health Armindo Tiago, appears in response to a petition submitted on July 31 by the Citizen’s Observatory for Health (OCS), a Mozambican NGO, which warned of the rule’s illegality.

According to the OCS, citizens have complained that they are being prevented from accessing health services by the rule, which was also applied at the Ministry of Health building in Maputo.

“The groups most affected are women and girls, young people, teenagers, sexual minorities and people with ‘dreadlocks’ [hairstyles], who are stigmatised by health services on the grounds of their appearance,” the NGO says.

The ban, it adds, exacerbates the problem of access to health in a country where “people travel an average of 25 to 60 kilometres” to reach a healthcare unit.

“The OCS petition also warns of the illegality of this act, which has been perpetrated mainly by health unit security guards, supported by some technical health professionals.”

“This situation, in addition to constituting an attack on the human and universal right to health, was also “a truly illegal measure, since there is no legal basis” whatsoever “to support this practice”.

“Not even the Charter of Rights and Duties of the Patient – CDDD (Resolution No. 73/2007 of 18 December) makes reference to this prohibition,” the NGO petition notes, suggesting that, in addition to posting a circular to health units prohibiting the practice, the matter should also be addressed in the CDDD.

“Health is a fundamental right under article 89 of the Constitution, which says that everyone has the right to medical and health care, under the terms of the law, as well as the duty to promote and defend public health,” the NGO argues in its seven-page petition.

“The MISAU measure is, above all, a victory for users of health services in Mozambique,” the OCS subsequently wrote in a communique welcoming the minister’s decision.

Source: Lusa / OCS