"As the first day of the strike, we have almost 70% adherence (...) around 50 thousand professionals have joined", said Anselmo Muchave.

According to the official, the strike is having "very good adherence" and it is expected that by Wednesday all 65,000 health professionals members of APSUSM will join the strike, while talks with the Government, which started this morning, are ongoing.

"Negotiations continue, but we are firm in our position that we will only return when everything is resolved and organised, especially regarding the difficulties that patients [face]", said Muchave.

The strike of health employees and agents will be held for 30 days, extendable, according to APSUSM, with the employees demanding better working conditions, and the representative said that they will not give in to new proposals from the Government to suspend it.

"Going on strike is not a luxury, demands are not a favour. We are demanding care for the people themselves, but the people also have to stop and analyse what is happening", said the president of APSUSM.

The Ministry of Health (MISAU) of Mozambique stated today that "there are no reasons" for the resumption of this strike, and guaranteed that it will "ensure the continuity of the provision of health services to the population".

"MISAU believes that there are no reasons for the aforementioned strike and reiterates that dialogue should continue to be the way to resolve challenges in the Health sector", reads a statement about the beginning of this strike.

The return to the strike had been scheduled for 28 March, but it was suspended a day before following talks with the Mozambican Government that culminated in the fulfilment of some points of the claim, such as the integration of health professionals, monitoring visits to hospital units and the resolution of irregularities in the payment of subsidies, said APSUSM at the time.

Almost 30 days after the suspension of the strike, Mozambican health professionals once again complained about the Government's failure to comply and the failure to carry out monitoring visits to ensure compliance with the agreements between the parties, stating that hospitals "are worse than at the beginning of the dialogue".

"When announcing the strike, we said out loud that our health units seriously suffer from the lack of medical-surgical and hospital material and medicines. The Government made a commitment to reverse this situation, but unfortunately our health units are worse than at the beginning of our dialogue", reads the association's document, about this new strike.

At issue was a negotiation that was underway in 2023 between the Mozambican Government and APSUSM, an association that includes around 65,000 professionals and that was on strike between August and November 2023, for better working conditions in the public sector.

They complain about the lack of medicines, beds and ambulances in hospitals, as well as non-disposable personal protective equipment, which is "forcing employees to buy it out of their own pockets".

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