The federal government announced this Monday (20) the return of the More Doctors program. The task is to increase the number of specialists from 13,000 to 28,000.

According to Health Minister Nicia Trindade, the public notice should be launched this week and only then will it be possible to know how many vacancies are available for Santa Catarina.

The return of the Mais Médicos program raised Union concerns about the recruitment of foreigners without proper training. – Photo: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil/North Dakota

According to what the government has presented, foreign doctors can be included in the selection, but specialists from Brazil will have priority. And those who have completed their higher education in another country will be asked to take the Revalida, a test, to have their studies validated here.

Demand in Santa Catarina

For Simesc (Union of Doctors of the State of Santa Catarina), program changes and recommendations do not help.

“We live in shock. There was a Mais Médicos program, it was closed, the Médicos came to Brazil with a number of meetings, which were also stopped, and now Mais Médicos is back. These surprises do not help in the conduct of public policy in our country,” says Ciro Soncini, president of Simesc.

The need for more professionals on staff was presented in January 2022, when the union conducted a survey among professionals who stated that they were overworked and needed to strengthen their team. Nearly 78% said there was no reinforcement in hiring doctors. And 15% that hiring was not enough.

The survey involved doctors from the cities of Florianopolis, Blumenau, Ararangua, Agua Doche, Angelina, Balneario Camboriu, Botuvera, Capinzal, Correia Pinto, Chapeco, Crisium, Gaspar, Garopaba, Ypira, Itapema, Itajai, Isara, Joinville. , Lajes, Meleiro, Morro da Fumas, Maravilla, Navegantes, Ponta Grossa, San José, Santo Amaro da Empress, Turvo and Sombrio.

Another important factor that caused the need for more doctors in the state was the increase in demand for medical care. Specialists responded that some requirements even tripled during the pandemic and remained even after Covid-19 was brought under control.

opposite view

CRM-SC (Regional Medical Council) believes that the state does not need more specialists, but better conditions to attract these doctors to small towns. There are 13,820 medical specialists in Santa Catarina.

According to the council, the Federal Council of Medicine’s medical demographics showed that there are currently 22,882 doctors registered in Santa Catarina. Only six states have more registered professionals: Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná and Bahia.

In Santa Catarina, there are 3.1 doctors for every group of 1,000 inhabitants. Only five states have higher rates: Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Espirito Santo and Minas Gerais.

The CFM study found that Florianopolis has 10.7 physicians for every group of 1,000 residents. In this case, only one capital is ahead of the number registered in Santa Catarina: Vitoria in Espirito Santo.

Taking into account only the inner cities in Santa Catarina, there are 2.5 doctors for every group of 1,000 inhabitants. No other state has so many professionals in rural areas.

For CRM-SC, the most important thing now is to create the right conditions to attract trained doctors to places that are still underserved. And for this it is necessary to provide adequate working conditions with equipment, premises with sanitary safety, labor protection, etc.

CRM advocates the creation of a public career for physicians. As in other categories, a professional with good working conditions and conditions for career growth had to hold positions in different regions, which for the council would guarantee capillarity in serving the population.

The CRM note states that the program now unveiled does not represent a step towards a career in the state for a physician, as the contract envisaged is only four years, renewable for another four years, and provides for grants rather than salaries. It also does not guarantee stability for the professional, reducing the attractiveness of a program for physicians to move to locations with poor infrastructure.

In Brazil

CFM (Conselho Federal de Medicina) through the 2023 Medical Demographics showed a situation different from that registered in Santa Catarina. According to the survey, the number of doctors in the country registered with the regional councils of medicine is sufficient to serve the population.

The problem is the distribution of these specialists. There is a scenario of inequality in distribution as well as in access to professionals. The data showed that the majority of doctors are still concentrated in the southern and southeastern regions, in capitals and large municipalities.

There are 49 cities with a population of more than 500,000 people, in which 32% of the Brazilian population is concentrated and where 62% of the country’s doctors are located. In cities with a population of up to 50,000, which together have a population of 65.8 million, 8% of the specialists in the area, which is about 40,000 doctors.

There are about 546,000 active doctors in Brazil, according to CFM.

Cuban doctors

The priority for Brazilians was highlighted in the presentation, as the previous edition of Mais Médicos in 2013, during the reign of Dilma Rousseff, hired a significant number of Cuban doctors through a partnership with PAHO (Pan American Health Organization). ).).

Physicians did not need Revalid and were criticized by various organizations for their lower wages.