Maputo, 24 Oct (AIM) – Resident doctors at Beira Central Hospital (HCB), the largest health unit in central Mozambique, are threatening to go on strike as from Saturday, in pursuit of demands for overtime pay.
According to a report on the independent television station STV, the doctors say they will suspend everything other than routine activities. This would mean cancelling emergency operations and suspending all work outside of normal working hours.
The doctors say there have been repeated delays in payment for overtime since 2023.
The problem dates from the introduction of the new unified wage scale (TSU) two years ago. According to Nolton Jack, a representative of the doctors, in the past the overtime was paid as a fee, “but that system was abolished, and since then we have never received it”, he said.
Jack said the doctors have tried to enter into dialogue with the HCB management, but without success. “Promises were made to pay us between 5 and 20 October, and so we suspended our strike temporarily. But nothing was paid, and now we’ve reached our limit”.
64 resident doctors are involved in the threatened strike. Jack said that some of them pay transport costs to and from the hospital out of their own pockets. “We are serving the community, but we cannot continue without payment”, he said.
“We think this is an extreme moment”, he said. “Nobody wants to go on strike, but we’ve reached a point where there is no other way out”.
The HCB management says it has sent documents to the Finance Ministry requesting money to pay the doctors, but so far the money has not arrived.
“We want something concrete”, said Jack. The doctors would only suspend the strike, once the money has entered their bank accounts.
(AIM)
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