Health: Mozambican doctors demand better working conditions

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Health: Mozambican doctors demand better working conditions

1:20 CAT | 13 Apr 2016

Doctors in Sofala province in central Mozambique are demanding better wages, reduced working hours and accommodation for newly hired professionals. The government says it is aware of the situation.

The demands date back to 2013, when health professionals called two strikes. The Mozambican parliament subsequently approved a doctor’s statute which had been under consideration for 17 years, but the Medical Association of Mozambique said at the time that the document did not fully satisfy the profession’s demands.

Three years later, doctors are claiming that the statute is not being respected. According to Sofala College of Physicians’ Dario Alberto Fernandes, requirements like the allocation of houses or subsidies to newly hired physicians who have been transferred from other parts of the country are not being fulfilled.

In addition, there are also difficulties in the training of medical specialists. “It is a war that is being waged by the doctors themselves, not to mention the college and our government,” Fernandes said.

As well as emphasising the need to ensure adequate housing for doctors, the College of Physicians says that the lives of health professionals in some health facilities in the country are in danger because of the conflict between government forces and Renamo combatants.

Manuel Chicamisse, representative of the Sofala Provincial Government recognizes the difficulties faced by the medical profession, acknowledging that “the College of Physicians has been an able partner in the delivery of health services to the population and the consolidation of the national health system”.

According to him, the government “appreciates and encourages the work of doctors, who are still too few and sometimes lack the materials to provide quality health services, but continue to work with dedication, integrity and professional competence”.

Source: Deutsche Welle