Doctors warn of rigging of CRMs by the left in elections

The elections of new members of the Regional Councils of Medicine (CRMs) – which represent the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) at the state level –, scheduled for the next 14th and 15th of August, could be decisive for the ideological equipping of these bodies.

Currently, CFM is the target of criticism from doctors aligned with the leftist agenda for resisting the ideology and excesses of the pharmaceutical industry. Plates with this bias want to have more power within the CRMs.

The offensive of these professionals can pave the way for the future occupation of the CFM, since it is common for members of the Federal Council to have previously passed through Regional Councils.

The new members of the CRMs – bodies in charge of overseeing and regulating medical practice at the state level – will be elected for the 2023-2028 term. 20 titular councilors and 20 alternates will be chosen for each Regional Council. The elections are coordinated by the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) and, for the first time, will be held online.

A People’s Gazettea physician member of the CFM – who preferred not to be identified – highlighted that the elections can be defined by newly graduated physicians, and that this could, in theory, facilitate the rise of the left in the Regional Councils, in view of the militancy exercised by professors at universities.

“Many of the newer doctors were deceived and have no idea of ​​the destruction that the PT did at the time of Dilma in relation to the Law of the Medical Act and the creation of Mais Médicos. And now, with the recreation of Mais Médicos, we have seen people who are not doctors and who do not have a CRM to attend instead of real doctors. [o PT] they also revoked all our health policies made during the last government, mainly, Médicos Pelo Brasil, which paid a salary three times higher than Mais Médicos, with labor rights and treating the doctor with dignity”, said the doctor. militant press for embracing a narrative in favor of the PT program.

The infectologist Francisco Cardoso, on the other hand, does not consider that younger people are the main threat. A People’s Gazettehe says that the history of past elections shows a low participation of these professionals in the election.

Cardoso points out that younger doctors are “those who are most feeling the effects of leftist policies in the area of ​​health”. According to him, newly graduated physicians end up submitting themselves to “underemployment, unemployment, labor exploitation” and “facing restrictions on their medical autonomy, curtailment of rights, scrapping at health centers and hospitals”, in addition to “disrepute of the medical profession due to the exercise of leftist corrupts.

Regarding the elections through social networks, Cardoso says that the CFM “has been mercilessly attacked by communists and leftists in Brazil”.

“This election is not to decide which ticket is more virtuous or beautiful. This election is to prevent the left from taking control of the CRMs. This will be the worst possible thing. It will be years of impeachment, persecution, threats and cancellations […] This leftist group supports Mais Médicos, the end of Revalida, salary flattening, the mass training of doctors with precarious quality, the indiscriminate opening of colleges” and “the coercion that there was to all doctors before and during the pandemic by secretaries of health and related agents”, wrote Cardoso in his social networks.

The election for CRMs has been a matter of concern for many doctors, especially after the political and media interference that several professionals have been victims of during the health crisis caused by Covid-19 in recent years. In addition to criminalizing treatments and persecuting those who had an opinion different from that presented by the media consortium – always in line with the pharmaceutical industry –, authorities also attacked medical autonomy.

For cardiologist Julio Braga Vieira, who is a federal councilor, doctors need to analyze the profile of candidates without being carried away by the popularity of a particular candidate, but taking into account the position in relation to important issues for the category.

“It’s not enough to be a good person, it’s not enough to be a competent professional. You have to see the other issues related to what he understands […] People are often afraid to even speak, but it is necessary to know the positions on topics such as state careers, SUS doctors, More Doctors, automatic revalidation… These are essential questions to define how the representative will act within the Council. So, I recommend being very careful because many with a good image are not suitable to defend the category”, says Vieira.

Candidate for vacancy in CRM says left acts hindering debate

One of the candidates running for a vacancy at the CRM in Minas Gerais is cardiologist Ricardo Hernane Lacerda. A People’s Gazettehe says he has sought peace between medical entities in the state.

“Here in Minas we had groups linked to Marxist governments in Council elections but, certainly, in recent years they have not been successful in this endeavor. The plurality of ideas, as Sócrates would say, makes us grow. The big problem is the stupid dialectic that prevents this. The Marxist dialectic brings a lot of this prejudice and does not allow the discussion of ideas. Fortunately, in Minas we all work in favor of doctors and good medical practice”, said the cardiologist.

Lacerda also says that it is necessary to fight for the consolidation of Revalida as a minimum condition for practicing medicine and calls the Mais Médicos program a “mistake”.

“It’s been a mistake since the beginning, because it stems from a wrong premise that attributes the situation of SUS and public health in the country to the lack of doctors. This is totally wrong. We have enough doctors, and the growth in the number of doctors outweighs population growth. We have to think and rethink university vacancies as well as better balance and adequately fix the doctor in needy regions. And this is done with a state career for these situations in order to ensure adequate conditions for medical practice” , said the cardiologist.

On medical autonomy, Lacerda says that “the topic was absurdly politicized during the pandemic”.

“Science was left aside. Everyone wanted to be right in a situation of general ignorance. Safe drugs were demonized, truculent and unsupported measures were taken. In the end, we still discussed the effectiveness of all measures. They tried to take away the doctor’s autonomy , and the councils, especially in Minas, fought for autonomy and continue to fight”, he concludes.

CFM has resisted ideological pressures in recent years

While draconian measures were imposed on the population during the pandemic – even without scientific proof of effectiveness – the CFM acted as a balancer at various times and rose up against the ideological hijacking of medicine.

In the acute phase of the crisis, in 2021, when politicians and journalists attacked doctors who were trying to treat Covid-19, the Federal Council defended the doctor’s autonomy in deciding – together with the patient – ​​what to do in each case of a person infected with the coronavirus .

At the same time, the CFM resisted the attempt to prohibit the use of off-label drugs, because, despite the little information that was available about the disease, several drugs that were used in the early treatment have been known to medicine for decades. .

In addition, the Federal Council has positioned itself, based on medical evidence, against guidelines imposed by the left, such as the entity’s resistance to the movement of the industry that wants to release marijuana under the pretext of medicinal benefits.

CFM has also taken on an important role in warning against gender transition surgeries in children and the anti-asylum movement, which could put thousands of criminals on the streets in the coming years.