Mozambique: Doctors at Beira Central Hospital threaten to stop working overtime

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Doctors at Beira Central Hospital threaten to stop working overtime

2:41 CAT | 21 Oct 2025

FILE - A view of Beira Central Hospital, in Beira city, Sofala province, central Mozambique. [File photo: Hospital Central da Beira]

Resident doctors at Beira Central Hospital (HCB), the largest in central Mozambique, will stop working overtime from October 29th, unless overdue overtime payments are made.

In a document submitted to the general director of Beira Central Hospital, seen by Lusa today, the doctors state that they have not received overtime for emergency medical care for more than two and a half years.

The lack of payment also includes rounds on weekends and holidays, and other activities performed outside normal working hours, which leads to “physical, emotional, and economic exhaustion”, in addition to social fatigue caused by the “burden of emergency rooms [shifts]”, which can last an entire day, the doctors add.

“Two meetings were held with the management of the Beira Central Hospital, in which they referred the payment of overtime to the departments from which each resident originates,” it states.

The doctors further explain that, after a year and a half of “attempts to send overtime to the departments of origin”, even with a request for annual planning for the years 2024 and 2025 for each resident’s department, these departments require a legal document, remitting payment of overdue wages to the hospital.

The released document further states that, in a circular letter from the Human Resources Directorate of the Ministry of Health to the Sofala Provincial Health Service, dated July 7th, the Health Ministry announced the normalization, starting on that same month, of overtime payments for healthcare professionals, “in compliance with the limit of the available monthly allocation”.

“To this end, departments, autonomous divisions, and other sectors are instructed to observe the control and rigor measures for overtime paid to healthcare professionals under their management,” the circular detailed.

The doctors also emphasize that the Beira Central Hospital has not paid overtime routinely since 2023. However, according to them, some of the resident doctors from the HCB organization “received their hours in arrears from January to September 2024”, leaving out professionals from other provinces, “in a clear attempt to divide and conquer”.

In light of this, the HCB resident doctors decided to suspend activities performed outside of normal working hours, such as “emergency rooms and rounds” starting on Wednesday next week (20-10), “unless the overdue hours are paid”.

Mozambique’s healthcare sector has for three years been facing strikes and work stoppages called by the Association of United and Solidary Healthcare Professionals of Mozambique (APSUSM), which represents approximately 65,000 healthcare professionals from various departments.

The Mozambican national health system has also faced pressure over the past two years as a result of strikes called by the Mozambican Medical Association (AMM) demanding improved working conditions.

According to the most recent data 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 hospitals, seven are provincial hospitals, 22 are rural hospitals, and 47 are district hospitals.

Source: Lusa