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Folha de Maputo (File photo) / "Through you, I want to recognise the efforts of all the nurses, doctors, first aid workers, and other health staff in our country. You had to change shifts, but you were able to respond. We want to recognise your attitude and your patriotism.”
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday praised the dedication shown by health professionals at Maputo Central Hospital (HCM) during the Christmas and New Year holiday period.
After a visit to the HCM emergency services, Nyusi declared “through you, I want to recognise the efforts of all the nurses, doctors, first aid workers, and other health staff in our country. You had to change shifts, but you were able to respond. We want to recognise your attitude and your patriotism”.
This was not just because of their extra work over the festive season, but also “because the health situation in our country has been evolving greatly, including the treatment of malaria, diarrhoea and cholera”. He noted a greatly reduced incidence of cholera compared with 2014 (the final year of government by his predecessor, Armando Guebuza).
One area that was not positive was the increased number of deaths in traffic accidents. In the 2016/17 festive season 42 people died across the country in traffic accidents. But, in the 2017/18 festive season, the number of deaths increased to 46.
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Despite the increased mortality on Mozambican roads, Nyusi recognised the efforts made by the health services to improve the services they provide. He said that the increase in life expectancy recently announced by the National Statistics Institute (INE), from 50 years a decade ago to 54 now, was largely due to the work of health professionals.
The hospital staff took the opportunity to mention the breakdown in the HCM’s only magnetic resonance machine, which has been out of order for the past two years.
Magnetic resonance imaging is a technique used in radiology to form pictures of the internal organs of the human body. Repairing the machine would cost 25 million meticais (about 427,000 US dollars), and up until now the HCM has not had this amount available.
Health Minister Nazira Abdula told reporters that Nyusi was already aware of the breakdown. “He has followed what the hospital needs, and he is concerned about the magnetic resonance imaging”, she said.
Abdula said the hospital was now considering, not repairing the old machine, but acquiring a new one. “There are promises and we are drawing up tender documents for obtaining a new machine”, she declared.
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