Angola’s doctors will continue a national strike over pay and poor working conditions indefinitely.
The doctors’ union, Sinmea, says some doctors earn less than $520 a month. Union spokesperson Domingos Zangão told the BBC the pay is “unacceptable and doesn’t reflect the effort and work the doctors do.”
Doctors around the globe have increasingly felt the strain of the pandemic. Last year, the country turned to China and Cuba for help to fight the first wave of the virus in 2020. More than 250 Cuban doctors arrived to assist.
On Friday, the union said 3,000 of its members would “continue the national doctors’ strike in all public health units.” Only seriously ill patients or those in intensive care are currently receiving treatment.
“Doctors are fed up. We work under difficult circumstances, there are no working conditions for us and we still receive miserable salaries,” union spokesperson Domingos Zangão relayed to the BBC.
Sinmea’s Secretary-General, Pedro da Rosa, said there was a “glaring lack of essential medicines to combat endemic diseases such as malaria, diarrhoeal diseases, respiratory diseases, particularly tuberculosis.”
“New health units have been created as part of the PIIM (Integrated Programme for Intervention in Municipalities) with an increase in the number of beds, but doctors and nurses are not being recruited in these hospitals,” Pedro da Rosa noted.
The union is requesting a pay rise for doctors and increased benefits for wardens and those on on-call duty.
Angolan Health Minister Silvia Lutucuta said that authorities are making “a deep evaluation” of the salary issue and investing in the training of health professionals.
The union has delivered President Joao Lourenco’s government a 30-day deadline and negotiations have persisted since the beginning of December.
