Doctors question PR's “silence” about union president's suspension

Adriano Manuel, pediatrician and president of Sinmea, has been suspended from exercising his function for 18 months, after denouncing the death of around 20 children in two days at the Pediatric Hospital of Luanda where he worked.

This Tuesday, at a press conference to announce a national strike by doctors, starting on December 6th, the Luanda provincial secretary of Sinmea, Miguel Sebastião, considered the pediatrician's suspension as "illegal" admitting "political motivations" .

For Miguel Sebastião, the suspension ratified by the Ministry of Health constitutes a "violation of the union law, since no union member can be transferred without his will in the exercise of his function".

"Until today, the answer given by the ministry has been 'let him wait because he is receiving the base salary which is 320,000 kwanzas', that is not an insulting answer", questioned the doctor, who is also a doctor.

"They should find ways to tell us that it would already be placed, but the ministry thinks that a pediatrician, having the country with a high rate of infant mortality, should be thrown to his own devices for denouncing the death of children", he stressed.

According to Miguel Sebastião, the ethics and deontology commission of the Angolan Medical Association has already given its opinion on the matter, guaranteeing that Adriano Manuel did not violate professional ethics, but only defended the greater good that is life.

"Even so, for political reasons, Dr. Adriano continues like this, just because of that it should already be a reason for a strike, but we think that the strike is the last resort and we gave this space so that we could reach an understanding", he maintained.

The union also questioned the "silence" of President João Lourenço, the vice-president, the Ombudsman and the Ministry of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security, to which letters on the matter were sent, without reply.

The lifting of the suspension of the president of Sinmea is one of the points of the claim sent to the employer, on September 20, 2021, in which doctors also demand better salaries, allowances, working conditions and others.

The doctors' strike is expected to last five days, between the 6th and 10th of December next, and the employer is open to negotiations, which should start on Wednesday.

Miguel Sebastião also stated that if the president of the doctors union is not appointed, the professionals in the sector "should not lift the strike".