The president of Sinmea, Adriano Esteves, said in a press conference that the union is concerned about the high number of unemployed Angolan doctors, the high rate of morbidity and mortality in hospitals and the lack of working conditions.
According to Adriano Esteves, the shortage of specialist doctors in the country is also another concern, as is the creation of an efficient primary health system in Angola.
"We want to express our discontent that we still have unemployed doctors and the union will continue to fight to improve our service in our country", he said.
The union leader stressed that Sinmea is counting on all doctors to "find the best ways to reduce the high mortality and morbidity rate in the country".
"We will not rest, as trade unionists, until the population of Angola has the same opportunities, we need each one, rich or poor, to have the same possibilities and it is not what we observe in our country", he said.
The trade unionist pointed out that the country currently has only 8000 doctors, for a need of at least 30,000 professionals.
Domingas Matos, vice-president of Sinmea, pointed out that despite several complaints and appeals made by the union there is no response from government authorities.
"It is in this order, that we have no other way out if we don't leave for our claims actions, only we don't leave for a strike in this period due to the situation that the country and the world are going through, we are in a situation of public calamity and legally the strike is not allowed in this period", said the trade unionist.
However, she continued: "As soon as this period is up, we, the trade union, will leave for one, two, three, four, as many strikes as necessary so that we can be heard, so that our documents and our requests can be looked at with the merit that is imposed and we can be attended to".
Domingas Matos assured that, despite the calamity situation, the union will not cross its arms and, although a strike is not possible, there are activities that can be carried out to make their voices heard.
"At first we will start with demonstrations, we will do as many as necessary, and if in the next 15 days the answers to everything that has already been presented are not given, then the national council of the union will meet to draw all the demanding activities that are legally acceptable in this situation", he said.
The union presented, in 2018, a demand notebook to the Ministry of Health, addressed in September 2019 to all special committees of the National Assembly a manifesto, both without response, and on the 3rd of this month sent a letter to the President of the Republic, waiting for a statement so far.
The trade union leader of Luanda, Miguel Sebastião, recalled that in December 2019, the Ministry of Health held a public contest, whose final lists were published this month, six months later, having registered 1400 doctors for 1200 vacancies.
Miguel Sebastião stressed that Angola is a country with "a glaring lack of doctors", wondering how 2,500 professionals could be unemployed.
The doctor pointed out that in the middle of the public competition, Angola received more than 200 doctors from Cuba, colleagues trained by the state, who on their return to the country are "simply abandoned".
"To what extent are we valuing national staff, trained abroad, who return to the country?", the trade unionist questioned, noting that the doctor trained abroad arrives and "is abandoned" and the "colleague with whom he studied, in the same room" arrives in Angola "and directly has the right to work".
"Where is the patriotism of this country?" asked Miguel Sebastião, referring to doctors imported from Cuba to the detriment of Angolans trained in the same country.
According to Sebastião, the situation of doctors is the same for nurses and diagnostic technicians.
