The president of the Union of Doctors of Angola (SINMEA), Adriano Manuel, was subject to disciplinary proceedings on July 20 for alleged violation of professional secrecy, but the unionist claims to be being persecuted for reporting deaths related to the lack of conditions of the Paediatric Hospital David Bernardino.
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Health, Silvia Lutucuta, SINMEA states that Adriano Manuel filed a hierarchical appeal on July 28, arguing that such a measure was "unfair and illegal", without obtaining a response.
"The Ministry of Health was supposed to respond within 30 days as they regulate the rules that guide the civil service. But after 138 days there was still no response," points out SINMEA in the letter, signed by the Secretary General, Pedro da Rosa.
The union therefore asks the minister to "deign to have legality restored within a maximum period of seven days from the receipt of the letter, reserving the right to call a demonstration and a general strike on December 19 and 21.
The doctor and union leader argues, in the hierarchical appeal, that he exercised "a right he has" and simultaneously "a duty constitutionally guaranteed", without having been able to prove that he committed the infraction of which he is accused, which constitutes an abuse of disciplinary power.
