Government of SP announces orthopedic surgery joint effort – 11/29/2023 – Balance and Health

The government of São Paulo launched, this Wednesday (29), an orthopedics joint effort. The goal is to eliminate the queue of more than 26 thousand people waiting for medium and high complexity orthopedic surgery. When questioned, the Secretary of State for Health, Eleuses Paiva, was unable to say the waiting time for the procedures to be carried out.

As soon as he took over management, Paiva said that he intends to organize the list of elective surgeries in the SUS (Unified Health System), a measure that will continue until 2024 with the implementation of a single waiting list in the state.

The investment for the orthopedics joint effort is R$48.5 million. The transfers will be made to health units qualified to carry out the procedures provided for in the program. With this amount, the total invested in joint surgery efforts in 2023 exceeded R$923.5 million.

The program will prioritize cases that involve some risk of complications or death.

The secretariat began calling on hospitals affiliated with the SUS in São Paulo to join the joint effort. The government’s expectation is to clear the queue and end the pent-up demand, to the point of not having to resort to joint efforts again.

The Department of Health intends to reach close to 26 thousand surgeries carried out this year.

“We understand that, in this way, we must end the collapse of orthopedic surgeries in the next 24 months,” said the secretary.

The orthopedics joint effort is part of the São Paulo government’s actions to reduce the overall waiting list for surgeries. A balance released by the Department of Health shows that more than a third of elective surgeries performed in São Paulo in 2023 were the result of joint efforts.

Data from September indicate that 240,450 procedures were carried out, which represents 32% of the total of 746,911 elective surgeries carried out across the state this year.