Program to reduce queues in the health system will be launched this Monday

SUS

Initiative involves elective surgery, exams and specialized consultations

The federal government will launch, this Monday (6), a program designed to reduce the queues of the Unified Health System (SUS) for elective surgeries, complementary exams and specialized consultations.

The launch ceremony will take place in Rio de Janeiro, starting at 3 pm, and will be attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade.

According to the Ministry of Health, the National Queue Reduction Program will have an initial budget of R$ 600 million, as provided for in the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) of the Transition – amounts that will be passed on to states and municipalities.

Among the objectives of the program is to “ensure technical and financial support to states and municipalities to respond to the chronic problem of queues for elective surgeries, exams and consultations in specialized care”. In the evaluation of the folder, these queues have grown as a result of the aging of the population; the increase in non-communicable chronic diseases; and also due to sequelae of covid-19.

dimensions and phases

The program will have two dimensions: one emergency, focused on the “immediate increase” in the offer of surgeries, exams and consultations; and a structuring one, dedicated to “improving queue management processes and user service flow (regulation system) and qualification of primary care”.

The qualification of primary care will help, according to the ministry, to reduce demands for specialized care. In this way, it will allow for a greater number of physicians available in primary care teams, as well as investment in training and more intense use of technologies such as telehealth.

According to the ministry, the first phase of the program runs until June 2023. Of the BRL 600 million forecast for the year, BRL 200 million will be transferred “immediately” to support the execution of local plans that encourage the organization of joint efforts in across the country, in order to “unburden the dammed demand”; and R$ 400 million will be transferred depending on the number of surgeries performed, mainly abdominal, orthopedic and ophthalmological ones.

“The action provides strategies to ensure complete surgical teams and improve the flow of care throughout Brazil. Each state will be able to establish the priority surgeries, according to the local reality”, informed the ministry. The second phase, between April and June, includes diagnostic tests and specialized consultations, focusing on oncological treatments.

Criteria

In a note, the Ministry of Health informs that “criteria and details” for the transfer of amounts to state and municipal health funds will be published in an ordinance. “Each federative unit will have to deliver a diagnosis with the real local demand for surgeries, as well as a plan to execute the queue reduction program, so that the release of resources is stipulated. States and municipalities must present the number of procedures performed and measure the reduction”, says the note.

The program has the participation of six federal hospitals and three national institutes (cancer, cardiology and traumato-orthopedics), in the city of Rio de Janeiro, in addition to 41 university hospitals.

The creation of the National Queue Reduction Program was approved on January 26 during the first ordinary annual meeting of the Tripartite Intermanagers Commission (CTI), formed by the Ministry of Health, the National Council of Health Secretaries (Conass) and the National Council of Secretaries Health Services (Conasems).

Read more:

Public health in Manaus carried out 2.5 million basic services in 2022

Bus do Idoso takes health and wellness services to the population of Manaus

Most deaths from tumors in Brazil occur among people with low education and low income