The government, through the Minister of Health, yesterday called on doctors to call off the 21-day strike that began on Monday, saying that "the life and health of the population must be given priority".

"We are here to appeal to the medical association to consider the possibility of calling off the strike," said Armindo Tiago, during a press conference at the Ministry of Health (MISAU) in Maputo.

The Mozambican Medical Association (AMM) is today, Thursday, on the fourth day of a strike in protest against wage cuts and lack of overtime pay.

Quoted by Lusa, Armindo Tiago reiterated the health sector's interest in maintaining dialogue with professionals, saying that doctors and the government have the same mission: "To guarantee better health care for the population".

"Regardless of the disputes we may have in the health sector, life and health must take precedence and any other element must be secondary," the source stressed, explaining that the change of negotiating teams in the dialogue, one of the doctors' complaints, was due to the circumstances, but the important thing is to maintain the technicians and the "institutional memory".

Meanwhile, the minister said that some of the points of the doctors' demands, related to salary, inclusion in the new civil service pay scale and overtime, have been resolved since June.

"There are a total of 44 doctors who have had their salaries reduced as a result of the implementation of the new salary scale, 16 of whom have already had their salaries regularized since June and the remaining 28 professionals will be paid this month," said Armindo Tiago.

This is the second doctors' strike in less than a year, following the suspension of another called in December, due to the lack of results in negotiations with the government at the end of last year, according to the medical profession.