Covid-19: Where do the Mozambican elites seek treatment for themselves now? – DW

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Covid-19: Where do the Mozambican elites seek treatment for themselves now? – DW

3:30 CAT | 02 Mar 2021

Polana-Caniço General Hospital, Maputo. Many patients with coronavirus are treated here

Thanks to Covid-19, Mozambique’s elites have experienced the precariousness of the country’s health system. Not even money opened doors for them; they experienced the pain of the majority. But now that helicopters and small planes are again free to cross to South Africa …

Travelling 45 minutes by plane to Johannesburg for a routine medical appointment is common practice among Mozambican elites. The affluent are probably those who most drive the so-called medical tourism in South Africa. They also go to Europe for treatment, some even settling there so that they can breathe longer.

In Mozambique, the health system is sometimes degrading, as Maputo resident Leopoldo Timana, reports.

“We don’t have equipment, we don’t have oxygen, we don’t have empty beds … If this was chaos before, now it has gotten worse. Those who have money are looking for [private] clinics, but these too, for some services, resorted to the [public service] Central Hospital of Maputo.”

Timana stresses that “the pandemic has somehow highlighted the weaknesses of the health system”.

A displeasure that elites began to experience with the Covid-19 pandemic. Not even their money and influence could achieve the magic of opening borders. They began to experience what the majority of the population has known since they were born: the decay of the national health system. Feel the frustration, the impotence and die, sometimes just due to lack of hospital conditions.

What lesson do elites learn from “passing through purgatory”?

“According to the latest events, it is expected that the elite that governs Mozambique today will try to improve basic services within the country,” journalist Zito do Rosário believes.

The journalist warns that “on the other side [of the border], services are sought because of their effectiveness, but it is [necessary to ask] how people leave here. Sometimes they do not have the essential care [at the beginning of the disease] and present a serious clinical condition. So, they must now pay extra attention to the national health system”.

But, to the delight of the Mozambican elites, the borders have opened up again, at least for those who do not have Covid-19. The leaders have once again been evacuated by jet to South Africa to benefit from the excellent health care system designed by their brothers from Pretoria – except that they do not follow their example.

Weight of complaints in health sector can lead to improvements

Matinejorge.dw_ — *Jorge Matine, health researcher*

In the meantime, the complaints of Mozambican health professionals are being managed behind closed doors. But this will have its weight in the balance of change, NGO Citizen Observatory for Health researcher Jorge Matine understands.

“[There is] a logic of creating internal processes which may cause some change in the sector in terms of prioritising health,” he says. “The doctors’ case in relation to the lack of protection, the deaths among health professionals – which affects the system, the lack of basic equipment … The lack of this has triggered some questions from providers.”

The health sector is expected to receive 14% of the State budget in 2021. Although the amount represents an increase of 5.6% compared to 2020, the health budget is well below the needs of an essential sector. A difficulty which will continue being circumvented by those with fat wallets …

Source: Deutsche Welle