Mozambique: Order of Doctors president objects to no subsidy for Mozambican medical interns

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Mozambique: Order of Doctors president objects to no subsidy for Mozambican medical interns

7:00 CAT | 21 Jul 2025

File photo: Lusa

The president of the Order of Doctors of Mozambique (OrMM) on Wednesday contested the end of the subsidy for medical intern students, arguing that the system takes advantage of the skills of “special doctors,” who help decongest hospitals.

“The system is taking advantage of the skills these intern doctors have, and this benefit is compensated for. Therefore, I still don’t think it makes much sense,” Gilberto Manhiça, president of the Mozambican Medical Association, told Lusa regarding the government’s decision to stop paying the benefit starting next academic year.

Medical students at Mozambican public universities on Monday demanded the reversal of the government’s decision, which revoked the benefit granted to sixth-year interns the previous week, calling for urgent dialogue and threatening legal action.

In defence, Gilberto Manhiça added that the withdrawal of the benefit would affect the performance of the national health system, as intern doctors “are at a completely different level than a student would normally be.”

“They are learning, but the practice they perform in their daily lives helps the health system and decongests the system. If they weren’t doing what they’re doing and just went there to learn, the need for doctors would certainly be greater than it is today,” he argued.

The practice, he adds, “should be considered” because it “relieves the system,” and therefore makes the need for doctors much smaller than it actually is.

“The waiting time patients are experiencing would be longer than it is now. […] They do this work and, in fact, allow for greater comfort for doctors, patients, and the system, making the process less costly,” he explained, acknowledging that the country is “under pressure.”

When it comes to healthcare, he adds, “we’re not spending money pointlessly, and intern doctors aren’t the reason.”

Council of Ministers spokesperson Inocêncio Impissa said on Tuesday (15-07) that the government has no “magic solutions” to restore internship subsidies for medical students, as demanded by the students, acknowledging an accumulated debt of over 100 million meticais (€1.3 million).

“There are no magic solutions to offer, this must be said. In truth, the country needs to produce much more to have resources and be able to invest in various activities. Therefore, there is no way to continue bearing this expense,” Impissa stated.

He recalled that the subsidy was introduced in 2004, at a time when there was only one medical school in the country, to attract more young people to medical careers. It was only applicable to the public sector, excluding students from the private sector and other healthcare sectors, including those trained abroad.

The government acknowledges, however, that many interns work long hours in public hospitals without any compensation and therefore promises to “reformulate the internship schedule” to prevent continued pressure on students without corresponding financial support.

Even so, Impissa emphasized, the internship in the final year of medical school remains mandatory, “with or without subsidies”.

Mozambique annually graduates more than 200 doctors from six universities, following a period of near-zero numbers in the country after independence 50 years ago, according to the Mozambican Medical Association.

Today, Mozambique has six higher education institutions that train doctors: the Eduardo Mondlane, Catholic University of Mozambique, Zambeze University, Lúrio University, the Alberto Chipande Institute of Health Sciences and the Institute of Science and Technology.

Source: Lusa