Doctors at Mozambique’s largest hospital give the government 30 days to avert strike

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Doctors at Mozambique’s largest hospital give the government 30 days to avert strike

1:24 CAT | 04 Jun 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: RFI]

Doctors at Maputo Central Hospital who were threatening to stop working overtime due to late payments announced yesterday that, following negotiations with the Ministry of Health, they would give the government a 30-day implementation deadline.

“We will wait another 30 days. The intention is to see whether or not the agreement we reached is fulfilled. We want to see the implementation of what was agreed,” the Maputo Central Hospital (HCM) doctors’ spokesperson told Lusa.

At the end of May, doctors at HCM, the country’s largest health unit, threatened to stop working overtime from 1 June, demanding payment for overtime.

In a letter addressed to the director-general of HCM, seen by Lusa, the professionals threatened to stop working from 3:30 p.m. on Sundays, as well as on holidays and weekends, until the arrears, which have been outstanding for 13 months, were paid.

The decision to give the government a 30-day deadline comes after meetings held on Monday with the Ministry of Health, led by the Minister of Health himself, Ussene Hilário Isse.

According to the spokesperson for the doctors’ group, the problem affects over 300 doctors at the country’s main public health unit. “All the doctors at the Hospital Central [de Maputo] are in the same situation,” added the group’s spokesperson.

On May 27, the Mozambican government asked the doctors to engage in dialogue.

“We have repeatedly said that the only alternative we have is to continue talking. There is no magic measure to paralyze anyone who intends to demonstrate, whether for a right or for any other reason, especially in a context of limited resources, when we know that the solution necessarily involves making these resources available,” declared Council of Ministers spokesperson Inocêncio Impissa at the time.

The health sector has been facing strikes and work stoppages for the past three years, called by the Association of United and Solidarity Health Professionals of Mozambique (APSUSM), which includes around 65,000 health professionals from different departments.

The Mozambican National Health System has also faced several moments of pressure in the last two years, caused by employee strikes, called by the Medical Association of Mozambique (AMM) demanding improvements in working conditions.

The country has a total of 1,778 health units, 107 of which are health posts, three are specialized hospitals, four are central hospitals, seven are general hospitals, seven are provincial hospitals, 22 are rural hospitals and 47 are district hospitals, according to the most recent data from the Ministry of Health.

Source: Lusa