Nyusi calls for mutual respect between health professionals and patients

Maputo, 7 Jan (AIM) – Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has called for empathy and mutual respect between health professionals and patients, with a view to improving the functioning of the national health system.

According to Nyusi, who was speaking on Monday during the inauguration of a hospital in Ponta de Ouro, in the southernmost district of Matutuine, in Maputo province, health professionals’ good care is crucial for patients’ well-being.

The health facility, which will benefit about 59,000 inhabitants of Matutuine, is budgeted at 320 million meticais (about five million US dollars at the current exchange rate).

The new hospital has specialized emergency services, an operating theatre, a blood bank, outpatient care, a pharmacy, a laboratory, cardiology, radiography and ophthalmology services and also a maternity ward.

“The construction of this district hospital is part of the government’s ‘One district, one district hospital’ initiative launched in 2019’, the President said.

The main purpose of this initiative, he said, is to speed up the implementation of health unit infrastructures at district level, including their equipment, provision and development of qualified staff.

Nyusi explained that implementation of this initiative took place in a context of multiple adversities, including extreme weather events that have damaged 472 health facilities since 2019, and terrorism in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, which caused the destruction of 36 health facilities.

“The hospital we are inaugurating today will directly benefit around 59,000 inhabitants of this district, served by more than 70 health professionals, and will also serve the surrounding districts of Boane and Namaacha, and tourists”, he said.

With the new hospital, Maputo province now has 122 health units, including a provincial hospital, a general hospital, two district hospitals, a rural hospital and 117 health centres, corresponding to an increase of around 15% compared to 2015, when Maputo province had 106 health units.
(AIM)
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