Lula sanctions the new More Doctors and ignores a similar program created by Bolsonaro

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) sanctioned, this Friday morning (14), the law that resumes the Mais Médicos program and institutes incentives for the training of professionals with a master’s degree and specialization, benefits for working in regions of greater vulnerability and payment of the Student Financing debt (Fies). The program, created in March through a provisional measure, was approved by Congress in June and will have a fiscal impact of R$3.7 billion over three years.

The expectation is to reach 28,000 physicians working in the program, with 15,000 hired by the end of this year. The first notice, with 5,900 vacancies, had more than 34,000 applicants and already selected 3,600 professionals.

Lula said, during the law sanctioning ceremony, that the program is now “definitive” as public policy, and accused former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) of having done away with Mais Médicos. He ignored that the previous government created “Doctors for Brazil” in 2019, with 18,000 vacancies and increased remuneration for professionals.

“It was such an important thing for Brazilian society that I did not imagine that a president or any minister could simply say ‘this program will no longer happen, there are many communists working on the periphery of this country, we are going to put an end to Mais Médicos’, without saying what he was going to put in its place”, said the president.

He also criticized the lack of doctors on the outskirts of cities and in the most distant locations, saying that “there are plenty on Avenida Paulista and in Copacabana, but there is a shortage of doctors on the outskirts of São Paulo, Rio, Recife”. “It is not enough to have a doctor, he must be where the people are, not that people come where he is”, he added.

Nísia Trindade, Minister of Health, said during the ceremony that the program had a “massive” membership of doctors, and that, “of those selected by the first public notice, 3,620 professionals are already working in all regions of the country, guaranteeing medical care for more of 20.5 million Brazilians”.

One of the guidelines of the new Mais Médicos program is to allocate vacancies to areas of social vulnerability, with incentives for doctors to remain in the regions. Of the 5,900 vacancies opened in the first notice, 1,000 are destined for the Legal Amazon.

According to the government, those benefiting from Higher Education Student Financing (FIES) who participate in Mais Médicos will receive from R$ 238,000 to R$ 475,000, depending on the vulnerability of the municipality and the permanence in the program for 48 months, with assistance for the payment of up to 80% of the financing. Professionals will also have benefits proportional to the value of the scholarship for the time they remain in the program and for working in highly vulnerable areas, of up to R$ 120,000.

Specialties and vacancies for vulnerable populations

Also according to the president, this resumption of Mais Médicos will also be marked by the expansion of specialty care in the Unified Health System (SUS), with incentives for the specialization of participating professionals. “People go to the UPA or UBS to seek care, and when the doctor says they need a specialist, they take the diagnosis home and the appointment is scheduled for months later. The disease does not wait”, said Lula.

The Ministry of Health reported that two public notices are open to guarantee access to health for the most vulnerable populations, such as those served by the Street Clinics and prison health. There will be 111 new vacancies for professionals who want to work in the Street Offices and 145 for work in the prison health system.

59 vacancies were also opened to work in the Indigenous Health Districts (DSEIS) and another 1,200 so that municipalities that adhere to the program can replace professionals.

The president also signed another decree establishing an interministerial working group (GT) coordinated by the Ministry of Health with the objective of “discussing, evaluating and proposing” rules for reservation of vacancies for doctors with disabilities and belonging to ethnic-racial groups.

According to Planalto, the group will be coordinated by the Ministry of Health and will have the participation of the Ministries of Racial Equality, Human Rights and Citizenship, Management and Innovation in Public Services and Planning.

Nísia stays in the ministry

Still during the ceremony, Lula again affirmed that minister Nísia Trindade will not be replaced by the ministry, that she is part of his personal quota. “Nísia is not a Brazilian minister, she is my minister, and therefore she has a role to play. She knows that the only prospect of leaving is not fulfilling her role, ”she said.

The speech in favor of the minister comes at a time when the government is negotiating the entry of more parties – mainly from the center – in the support base. Health came to be in the crosshairs, but Lula denied putting the folder on offer.

Lula also said that he has improved his relationship with Congress and that he needs to accept when deputies and senators make “their changes”, in a “civilized and democratic relationship, even with the defects”. And he also stated that it is necessary to live with the parliamentarians who were elected, and that they have the “face” of the voters.

“Congress is the face of you on election day. Congress is nothing more than that, it is the state of mind of each one of us when we went to type the veto. upcoming elections,” he added.

At another point, Lula commented on the suspension of civic-military schools decided this week by the Ministry of Education. He said that “it is not MEC’s ​​function” to administer this teaching format, and that the states are free to maintain it if they wish.