c) medical services
In the liberated areas the people are in great need of all kinds
of social services, including medicine. Once the Portuguese army
was forced to retraat from these areas, the official health services
were withdrawn along with the administration, the schools,where
there were any, and those missionary institutions which dependednon
the favours they enjoyed from the Portuguese colonialist government.
Immediately after the beginning of the armed struggle in some of
these areas the Portuguese administrative centres and the mission
stations were turned into military garrisons Soil the Portuguese
army, and where any medical services continued they were reserved
for the treatment of wounded soldiers.
This situation forced the Mozambique Liberation Front to
provide some alternative services for those Mozambicans who chose
freedom and were lucky enough to find themselves in the midst of
areas controlled by the liberation forces. We, therefore, had no
alternative but to accept the responsibility of giving as much
assistance as possible to all the people living in liberated and
semi-liberated areas.
In order to make this possible we established a medical structure
capable of planning, organising and directing such medical services
as we could afford to maintain.
Inside Mozambique, FRELIMO established several health centres
in each liberated area. These centres are of various kinds and
different types of medical assistance are given to the sick
members of" the civilian population as well as to those who are from
time to time wounded by the Portuguese terrorists. The medical centres vary from one district to another, depending on the kind of
equipment that we are able to provide. There are,for example , medical clinics whose usefulness is limited to giwing fifst-aid to
those taho are wounded or hurt in accident^ or to treating those
with simple health problems. Those who cannot satisfactorily be
treated in the first-aid centres are transferred, as soon as possible, to centres equipped with better medical facilities where they
are given closer attention by more capable medical officers. In
every liberated province, district and circle, there are several
medical centres of one kind or another, staffed by different kinds
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