Mozambique medical strike ends

MAPUTO (AFP) - Health workers in Mozambique Saturday called off a crippling 27-day long strike over higher wages without reaching an agreement with government, their union said.

The unions that led the strike said their decision was motivated by the patients' suffering.

"Without having reached any agreement...we became truly unhappy...about the pain and suffering of our people," the Association of Mozambican Medics said in a statement.

The doctors said they had felt an "incalculable pain...minute after minute, day after day" during their almost month-long action.

Before calling off the strike, a group of doctors held a march in the capital of Maputo calling for greater "dignity" for Mozambique's doctors who complain they earn the equivalent of $600 a month.

The strike has been joined by nurses, ambulance drivers and hospital cleaners who originally supported the doctors in their strike.

Talks between the government and strikers had deadlocked, as the state refused to recognise an association claiming to represent nurses, cleaners and other medical support staff.

Government had last week threatened to discipline and dock the salaries of those taking part in the strike, insisting that the stayaway was illegal.

Hospitals in the poor southern African country had stayed open thanks to the deployment of military doctors and student nurses, initially drafted to fill the gaps. They were joined by volunteers from the Mozambican Red Cross acting as orderlies who wheel patients between wards.