Mozambique: Parliament speaker urges doctors, government to reach deal, stop strike

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Mozambique: Parliament speaker urges doctors, government to reach deal, stop strike

7:41 CAT | 12 Aug 2023

File photo: Lusa

The speaker of the Mozambican parliament on Friday called on doctors and the government to reach an understanding on the differences that led health professionals to go on strike more than a month ago.

Esperança Bias was speaking at the closing speech of the fifth extraordinary session of the national parliament.

Doctors and the government must work to “bring their positions closer together”, she emphasised.

Health professionals, she continued, are essential for the provision of care to the public.

Mozambican doctors have been on strike since 10 July, observing minimum services in health units, protesting mainly against salary cuts, within the scope of the application of the new civil service salary scale, and lack of payment of overtime.

In a speech that addressed several current issues in Mozambique, the speaker of parliament also called for an orderly campaign for the local elections on 11 October, through respect for democratic rules.

The “vote hunting” day should be “a time of celebration, presentation of the electoral manifesto and respect for democratic rules”, she emphasised.

Esperança Bias urged political parties and civil society to be guided by “ethically correct conduct” during the 11 October election campaign.

Regarding the proposals to revise the laws on preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing and on preventing and combating terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which were finally approved by parliament today, Esperança Bias stressed that the Mozambican state has been strengthened in the fight against the offences targeted by the two diplomas.

Source: Lusa