The president of the opposition Democratic Movement of Mozambique (MDM), Lutero Simango, called on Thursday for a frank and open dialog between the Mozambican government and Mozambican doctors, in order to resolve the strike by these professionals, which began on July 10.

According to Lutero Simango, the strike affecting the public health sector throughout the country is a reality visible to thousands of Mozambicans. "There are strikes in the public sector, it's a reality. There are silent strikes and visible ones; despite this, minimum and basic services must be guaranteed," appealed the MDM leader.

"Our solidarity with the just demands of doctors, nurses and health technicians (...) Dialogue with the government must be frank, open and honest," he said, opening the ordinary meeting of Mozambique's third largest party in the city of Beira.

With the 21-day strike, which can be extended, the medical profession is contesting the pay cuts resulting from the application of the new scale and the lack of overtime pay.

"The National Health System must be revised and adapted to the new reality with the existence of new players in the private sector," Lutero Simango also criticized.

It should be remembered that the Mozambican Medical Association (AMM) previously justified its decision to return to strike action, after the suspension of another strike called in December, by the lack of results in the agreements reached with the government in the negotiations held at the end of last year.

The Mozambican medical profession had already announced their discontent in November last year, when they postponed a first strike, after meetings with the ministers of Economy and Health, in order to "give the government time" to "implement the agreed principles".

The AMM points to the "constant change of interlocutors on the part of the government" and the lack of transparency about "how doctors' salaries are being processed or not" as some of the points that have determined the failure of negotiations so far.