Saúde announces that there will be service at UBSs until 10pm – 04/11/2024 – Health

The Ministry of Health announced, this Thursday (11), measures that aim to strengthen the Family Health Strategy (ESF), part of Primary Health Care (PHC), responsible for people’s first contact with the system of health.

Among them is the increase in teams available at UBSs (Basic Health Units), which, according to the Secretary of Primary Health Care, Felipe Proenço, will gradually lead to an extension of opening hours at the units until 10pm. Today, UBSs are open from 7am to 7pm.

“In the current model, we have an excess of people per team, this leads to overload, and this makes it difficult for people to seek care even in the morning and afternoon shifts, when the health units carry out their activities “, said the secretary during a press conference.

“By improving the proportion of people per team and adding more teams to a UBS, you also have an incentive to expand opening hours”, he continued. It was not specified whether the expansion of hours will reach all municipalities and when this will happen.

The increase in teams, in turn, will take place based on the size and vulnerability of the municipalities.

At the beginning of the current Lula (PT) administration, there was a shortage of family doctors in the SUS that ranged from 45 thousand to 65 thousand professionals. Since then, according to the Health Ministry, there has been an 85% increase in the number of doctors between 2022 and 2023. According to the ministry, there are 25,421 of these professionals working today.

Coverage of the family strategy is linked to a reduction in child mortality, studies show.

The department’s current goal is to implement 2,360 Family Health teams, 3,030 Oral Health teams and a thousand multi-professionals — nutritionists, physiotherapists, therapists, psychologists, social workers — per year by 2026.

According to an ordinance published this Thursday (11), federal co-financing to support the maintenance of PHC will consist of a financial incentive to be passed on by the National Health Fund to the Municipal Health Funds and the Federal District to support the cost and the implementation of teams.

A link component will also be taken into consideration —which aims to encourage the qualification of registration, the reorganization of primary care in the territory and the improvement of service to the population— and a quality component for the teams.

According to the secretary, all municipalities will have increased resources for primary health care. There will be discussion about the transfer of values ​​to team members.

“The average of what family health teams received in 2023 from federal co-financing was R$21,394. Each team will receive at least R$24 thousand and up to R$30 thousand reais to carry out their activities”, stated Proenço.