Doctors refuse to work in war-torn provinces

Angolan doctors were refusing to work in four southern provinces hit hard by violence in the nation’s 25-year civil war, AFP reported on Tuesday, quoting the health ministry. The national public health service announced two months ago that it was taking applications from doctors to fill 60 vacant posts in Bie, Moxico, Kwando-Kubango and Kwanza-Norte provinces.

“But no one has applied,” said the ministry’s human resources chief, Artur Chilulu on national radio. “The provinces of Kwanza-Norte, Bie and Moxico have no doctors,” he said. “If they were taking applications for doctors in Luanda, many candidates would have applied,” he said. “I am absolutely sure of that.”

Angola’s civil war has raged almost non-stop since independence from Portugal in 1975. According to the report, the fighting has sent Angolans fleeing from the provinces into the capital, and the government has had trouble filling professional posts - like doctors and teachers - in the provinces. Provincial clinics also suffer from critical shortages of supplies, such as food, medicine and medical equipment.