At a press conference, SINMEA Secretary General Pedro da Rosa said that the disciplinary process four months ago culminated in a fine of the sixth part of Adriano Manuel's monthly salary.
According to the secretary general, the disciplinary process was initiated following an interview with a newspaper this year, in which the trade unionist addressed the situation experienced in the emergency banks of the David Bernardino Pediatric Hospital (HPDB), which reported the death of 19 children in that hospital unit in a few days.
"There is also a lack of ventilators, in this hospital many children arrived in critical condition, the result of malfunctioning of our national health system, in which the periphery does not work and even congestion the HPDB," he said.
For the director of HPDB, "there is irrefutable evidence" that the employee lacked professional secrecy when passing the information to the newspaper.
"But we, the union, fully disagree, because Dr. Adriano only spoke as a unionist," said Pedro da Rosa, stressing that "the good of life was at stake and everything he said was only in favor of the sick.
According to the secretary general, the union considers "a blatant violation of the law" the process, emphasizing that Adriano Manuel was not given the opportunity to defend himself.
"We also found an illegality, the fact that this sentence came from HPDB, when it should have been the employer, in this case the Ministry of Health, to call Dr. Adriano Manuel and only after 45 days, after hearing the parties, give the sentence, which did not happen," he said.
As a result of "all the violations that have taken place," continued Pedro da Rosa, all the members of the union are in solidarity with their leader and express their repudiation of what they consider to be the injustices suffered by the president of SINMEA.
"We plan to go out on the streets next Saturday, starting at 12:30pm, to concentrate on Largo da Mutamba, and march, to wake up the country's medical class, the national and international community, to join this cause in defense not only of the rights of doctors, but also of a good service to our patients," he stressed.
For his part, the SINMEA provincial head of Luanda, Miguel Sebastião, said that a hearing was requested with the director of HPDB, to ask that the process not be taken forward, but it did not work.
"Days later we were surprised with some punishments applied to Dr. Adriano Manuel, first was suspended from his activities, a week later transferred from the HPDB to the Ministry of Health, this in July," he said.
After five months, said Miguel Sebastião, the president of the union only receives the base salary and is at home, for not having a new position yet.
Miguel Sebastião said that notes of repudiation were produced, addressed to the President of the Republic, the National Assembly, the Ombudsman, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Public Administration, Labor and Social Security, the General Inspection of the State Administration and the management of the HPDB, asking these entities for their intervention, but all without response, and then a Manifesto of the Social Sector Unions was produced, sent to the President and the parliament, also answered with silence.
The union even appealed to the Medical Ethics and Deontology Commission of the Medical Association, which heard the president of the union and the HPDB management, and concluded that there was no violation of professional secrecy, because their pronouncements aimed only "to protect the greater good that is life".
This month a letter was sent to the Ministry of Health, in which they requested a hearing with the holder of the portfolio, to address the issue, and seven days later, they were not received, but on Thursday they received a document from the employer that reiterated all the decision made regarding Adriano Manuel.
Adriano Manuel underlined that the statistical data are public, so he did not run over "anything, which was not for the good of the community".
The trade unionist considered that the objective of the Ministry of Health was to provoke a "financial asphyxiation", because when he was suspended he still had subsidies to receive, summarizing everything to an "excessive abuse of power".
"The great objective is to asphyxiate the leadership of the Angolan doctors' union so that all the other union leaders at the provincial level don't demonstrate, don't claim, and if we medical class allow that to happen, the union dies," he said.
"We cannot, as doctors, remain impassive and serene to observe the amount of deaths that happen in hospitals, the lack of biosecurity materials in our hospitals, we cannot remain silent about the exiguity of doctors' salaries", he stressed.
According to Adriano Manuel, the union will wait for a statement from the Minister of Health, if there is not in about 15 days, they will leave for a strike.
"The intention was to go on strike right after [the demonstration], but the union, after meeting, decided that we will give the Ministry of Health the opportunity to pronounce and after that eventually we will find another day to strike, in case the ministry does not pronounce," he indicated.
