According to the director of Human Resources at the Ministry of Health, Batista Monteiro, despite the strike, the situation in hospitals is under control, with some services operating at 50 percent.
The official added that the Ministry of Health is meeting this Tuesday with the Union of Nurses of Angola, the professional class that called for a strike across the country to demand payment of subsidies and salary improvement.
"On the 6th of October we received the claim booklet, with 15 points, which have already been dealt with at the level of the commission created by the Minister of State [for the Social Area]", said the official.
Batista Monteiro stressed that of the 15 points, two of them are fracturing: the payment of subsidy for professionals who worked directly in the fight against covid-19, namely in quarantine centers, at borders, at the airport, covid-19 vaccination posts, who is undergoing treatment, and the added hours.
The official of the Ministry of Health said that, in the 17 provinces, with the exception of Luanda, the process of payment of subsidies is taking place "normally", stressing that in the country's capital "almost 8000 professionals have already been paid".
"It is a process, because it is still open, the respective subsidy payment is being carried out", he said, adding that the union was asked to list the professionals to be benefited, guaranteeing that more than 80 percent have already been paid.
Regarding the payment of the added hours, Batista Monteiro informed that, in the general regime, they are designated as overtime and those hours are entitled "whoever actually performs them after the completion of normal working hours".
"The Ministry of Health is open, tomorrow [Tuesday] around 1 pm [local time, minus one in Lisbon] we will have the first meeting with the union and everything we are doing so that we can then bring the parties together and raise the strike as soon as possible," he said.
To the population, the official asked for tranquility, because the hospital units are working.
"Scheduled surgeries are taking place, care, hospitalizations, outpatient consultations are working, that is what is most important, we also believe that on the side of our partners they have this sensitivity because we take care of lives", he observed.
The secretary general of the National Union of Nurses, Cruz Matete, said that the first claim requires the immediate replacement of the added hours, based on Decree 175/2022, which regulates the added hours to be paid to nursing professionals.
According to the secretary general of the National Union of Nurses, the first claim requires the immediate replacement of the added hours, based on Decree 175/2022, which regulates the added hours to be paid to nursing professionals.
"It has to be 48 hours a week, what happens is that in the first months, May, June, July, the ministry was paying 149 hours a month, but since August they are no longer paying", he said, adding that the "immediate replacement" of the hours is "the first concern".
In addition, Angolan nursing professionals claim the payment of the covid-19 subsidy and also the payment of the 6 percent increase in the base salary for specialized third-class nursing technicians.
"They have not benefited to date, they have already paid July, August, September until October and until today they do not receive their salary according to the 6 percent increment", he commented.
Another concern is the issue of transition, he pointed out: "There was a transition in 2019, and many of the colleagues should have moved to the category of second-class technician, they did not move and continue from 2019 to today in the same category", he added.
