Maputo, 30 Apr (AIM) – The first day of a national strike in the Mozambican health service did not cause the complete shutdown that the Association of United Mozambican Health Professionals (APSUSM) had hoped for.
APSUSM boasted that 50,000 health workers joined the strike on Monday, but when journalists visited health units, they found that work was continuing, albeit with some of the staff absent.
In the Maputo Provincial Hospital, in the southern city of Matola, there were long queues in some sectors. Some patients went home rather than wait for many hours.
But the hospital did not close, and the provincial health directorate insisted that all services in the hospital were functioning.
The independent television station STV found that the Jose Macamo General Hospital, one of the largest health units in Maputo city, was working normally despite the strike. All the professionals scheduled to work in the emergency services, in the maternity and paediatric wards, and in the laboratories were present. Patients at this hospital told STV that they had not noted any anomalies.
At the Bagamoyo health centre, on the outskirts of the city, the district chief doctor, Germina Joaana, told reporters that the situation was “under control”.
But patients disagreed, and protested at the absence of staff, which forced them to wait for hours to be attended.
The Health Ministry says there is no justification for the strike, and in a press release issued at the weekend pointed out that it was still negotiating with APSUSM.
But one recent demand made by APSUSM cannot be granted because it is illegal. APSUSM wants all health workers, whether members of the union or not, to pay union dues. It has demanded that the Health Ministry deduct one per cent in union membership fees from the monthly wages of all health workers and channel the money to the APSUSM bank account.
But this is illegal, since workers cannot suffer deductions from their wages without their express consent.
“Any discount from wages, not covered by the legislation in force, requires the consent of the worker, through a declaration recognized by a notary”, said the Ministry’s release.
(AIM)
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