Brazil will have more doctors per population than the USA in 2025 – 03/31/2024 – Mônica Bergamo

Brazil will have 3 doctors for each group of 1,000 inhabitants in 2025. The brand will make the country surpass those registered today in the USA, with 2.7 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, Canada, with 2.8, Japan, with 2 .6, and China, with 2.5.

DOCTOR BRAZIL

The data comes from the study “Medical Demography in Brazil”, coordinated by professor at the University of São Paulo (USP) Mario Scheffer.

DOCTOR 2

The projection was made considering all medical courses already open in the country, and also the notice released by the Ministry of Education (MEC) this year, which authorized the creation of an additional 5,700 places in 95 courses. It also took into account population adjustments from the IBGE census.

DOCTOR 3

Brazil reached the end of 2023 with 597,428 qualified doctors, or 2.91 per 1,000 inhabitants. This year it should reach the mark of 597,428 doctors in a population of 205 million people.

DOCTOR 4

In 2025, finally, there will be 635,706 qualified doctors, for a population of 206 million inhabitants.

ACCELERATED

If the pace continues, the country will reach the one million doctor mark by 2035, says Scheffer.

SPEED BUMP

Despite the emblematic number, the country needs to resolve several problems, such as the distribution of doctors across the country and their good training.

BRAKE

“Now is the time to take a break so we can invest in planning,” says Scheffer, referring to the debate about opening more medical courses in Brazil.

BRAKE 2

“How are we going to guarantee the good training of all of them? And their subsequent movement to unassisted regions?”, he asks.

YELLOW SIGN

“We are facing an opportunity, but also a warning”, continues the professor.

YELLOW 2

According to him, around 43 thousand new doctors graduate every year in Brazil. And there are only around 20,000 places to enter residency in the country, which is when they dedicate themselves to studying a specialty.

YELLOW 3

Result: 40% of Brazilian doctors do not currently have a medical specialty. “It’s important to have generalists too, as long as they are well trained”, says Scheffer.

NETWORK

The distribution of professionals also has worrying contours: cities such as Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte and Vitória have around ten doctors for each group of 1,000 inhabitants, while there are regions of the country that remain unassisted.

CONSERVATIVE

Scheffer states that his projection is conservative. “The government, in addition to the 95 courses already announced, plans to offer another 2,000 places to expand existing private medical courses, and another 2,000 to expand medicine at federal universities”, he recalls.

EXPIRY DATE

There are also 57 thousand vacancies that are judicialized, in educational institutions that await a decision from the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to be implemented.

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Writer Claudia Cavalcanti received guests last week for the launch of her new book, “Avenida Beberibe” (published by Fósforo). Businesswoman and fashion consultant Gloria Kalil and her husband, philosophy professor Sérgio Cardoso, attended the event at Livraria da Tarde, in São Paulo.

_{with BIANKA VIEIRA, KARINA MATIAS It is MANOELLA SMITH}

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