Mozambique: A strike in the health sector would be a disaster, government warns

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Mozambique: A strike in the health sector would be a disaster, government warns

3:30 CAT | 21 Mar 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only- [File photo: Lusa]

The Mozambican health minister warns that a possible strike in the sector would be “a disaster” and has called for dialogue with professionals, after they threatened to go on strike if the government does not improve their working conditions by the end of March.

“A strike in the health sector is a disaster, a real disaster. Imagine being left without attending to a patient in the resuscitation room for 10 to 15 minutes, a critical patient, what will happen? Death. It has happened here several times, family members of our colleagues have lost their lives. Is this a tragedy or not?” asked Health Minister Ussene Isse.

Mozambican health professionals are threatening to resume the strike at the end of March, demanding that the government improve working conditions, the professional framework and overtime pay.

The demands of the Association of United and Solidary Health Professionals of Mozambique (APSUSM) are at stake.

For the past three years, health care professionals have demanding that medicines be provided to hospitals, given that in some cases patients need to purchase them, as well as the purchase of hospital beds.

They are also asking for a solution to the “lack of food”, and for ambulances to be equipped with emergency supplies and non-disposable personal protective equipment, the absence of which is “forcing employees to buy [it] out of their own pockets”, in addition to better management within the scope of the Single Salary Table (TSU)

Responding to questions from Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM) deputies who visited the Ministry of Health (MISAU), the minister said that the Mozambican government has been “guided by dialogue” with professionals in the field with the aim of resolving their concerns.

The minister also promised to present the results of an ongoing investigation at the Matola Provincial Hospital, in Maputo province, into reports of alleged mistreatment and disappearance of babies there.

“We have an inspection team working at the Matola Provincial Hospital and this week we will have a report on the results of the work they are doing,” Minster Isse promised.

READ: Mozambique: Health sector strike ‘unethical’ – new minister

The issue at hand is the various reports on social media about alleged mistreatment of women, especially during childbirth at that hospital unit, the most celebrated being the “Leila case”, a woman whose uterus was removed after a Cesarean section, in which the baby was declared dead, but the body was never returned to the family.

According to the 2017 population census, the maternal death rate is 452 per 100,000 live births, which places Mozambique among the countries where women have the highest risk of death during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period.

The Mozambican government approved the Single Salary Table (TSU) in 2022 to eliminate asymmetries and keep the state’s wage bill under control. However, its launch caused wages to soar by around 36%, from an expenditure of 11.6 billion meticais/month (€169 million a month) to 15.8 billion meticais/month (€231 million).

The TSU cost around 28.5 billion meticais (€410 million), “more than expected”, according to a document from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the evaluation of the assistance program for Mozambique consulted by Lusa in January 2024.

The implementation of the TSU has been the target of strong opposition from several professional groups, such as doctors and teachers, with record salary delays and cuts, including in the security forces, leading to strikes and sectoral stoppages, particularly in health and education.

According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health, Mozambique has a total of 1,778 health units, of which 107 are health posts, three are specialized hospitals, four are central hospitals, seven are general, seven are provincial, 22 are rural and 47 are district.

Source: Lusa