diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 4c5bfca..edd4c54 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ RUN DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get update \
   && apt-get -q -y install --no-install-recommends \
   procps supervisor ca-certificates getmail6 wget curl gnupg graphviz libssl3 \
   zlib1g libgd3 libexpat1 libpq5 w3m elinks links html2text lynx openssl cron bash \
+  libfcgi-bin \
   && apt-get clean \
   && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 # msmtp - disabled for now to use the newer version
@@ -167,3 +168,5 @@ USER rt
 WORKDIR /opt/rt5/
 
 CMD [ "/usr/bin/supervisord" ]
+
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=3s --start-period=10s --retries=3 CMD cgi-fcgi -connect localhost:9000 -bind || exit 1
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 2330918..2cdb1cb 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@ services:
     command: ["/root/cron_entrypoint.sh"]
     # no need for tini here
     entrypoint: ""
+    # disable the healthcheck from the main dockerfile
+    healthcheck:
+      disable: true
     depends_on:
       - rt
       # we send rt-mailgate over to nginx
diff --git a/nginx/Dockerfile b/nginx/Dockerfile
index ad221c1..6a4141d 100644
--- a/nginx/Dockerfile
+++ b/nginx/Dockerfile
@@ -10,4 +10,4 @@ COPY healthcheck.conf /etc/nginx/conf.d/healthcheck.conf
 COPY full.conf /etc/nginx/full.conf
 RUN rm -f /usr/share/nginx/html/index.html
 
-HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=3s CMD curl -f http://localhost:9001/health || exit 1
+HEALTHCHECK --interval=10s --timeout=3s --start-period=5s --retries=3 CMD curl -f http://localhost:9001/health || exit 1