STF decision blocks opening of medical courses – 08/13/2023 – Education

The MEC (Ministry of Education) still does not know how to comply with the decision of Minister Gilmar Mendes, of the STF (Federal Supreme Court), who put obstacles to the opening of medical courses.

Teaching companies are interested in opening these courses in a scenario of stagnant expansion of the private sector in higher education. A medical course with 100 places would be worth around R$ 200 million due to the high monthly fees and excellent student retention rates.

The Seres (Secretary for Regulation and Supervision of Higher Education), of the MEC, does not have solid data on how many processes for opening courses initiated from judicial injunctions are in progress in the folder. There is also no information on how many would be in the initial analysis phase – according to the STF decision, they must be stopped.

A Sheet asks the MEC for this data since the beginning of last week. Seres is commanded by Professor Helena Sampaio.

The decision by Gilmar Mendes, on the 7th, determined that the new courses must follow the rules of the Mais Médicos program, from 2013, following the model of public calls. The decision still needs to go through a session with other ministers of the STF.

Public calls define, for example, the places where courses should be opened to, in theory, address gaps such as the lack of doctors. This system was interrupted in 2018, the last year of the Michel Temer (MDB) government, when there was a five-year interruption for the opening of new courses.

The Lula government (PT) already published an ordinance, in April, resuming the model of calls. But it has not yet published edicts. This should occur by the beginning of September.

During this period of delay, however, there was an explosion of judicial decisions that forced the MEC to continue the course opening procedures. Law firms began to specialize in getting these injunctions.

In the petition of the AGU (Advocacy-General of the Union) to the STF, the government informed that, in March of this year, there were 223 requests for authorization for new courses via court. Which results in 32,051 new vacancies, in addition to another 22 requests for increased vacancies in existing courses.

Questioned, the MEC did not provide updated information on the total number of processes that will continue or will be interrupted, as well as the total number of processes via lawsuit.

In a note, the folder stated that it will comply with the court decision. But that would not be sure of the correct interpretation. “The MEC awaits being notified of the decision and the enforceable opinion of the AGU, with the due interpretation as to the best form of compliance”, says the note.

Mendes defined, in his decision, that processes initiated after a court decision will only continue if they have passed the initial phase of document analysis. In addition, this can only occur if the course proposals meet criteria determined by the Mais Médicos law, such as the social need of the course for the city.

The action initiated in the STF seeks to maintain the Mais Médicos calling model, arguing for its constitutionality. The fight in court put entities representing private institutions of higher education on opposite sides.

Anup (National Association of Private Universities) defends the continuity of the calls in action.

“The modulation [que permite continuidade dos processos que estão além da fase inicial] it was very liberal, but the main thing is that we had confirmation of the constitutionality of the Mais Médicos system”, says the president of Anup, Beth Guedes.

She is critical of the proliferation of lawsuits seeking new medical degrees. “There were even courses to teach how to apply for an injunction.”

The Crub (Council of Rectors of Brazilian Universities) argues that the opening of medical courses is not restricted only to calls. But that there is also a possibility through the traditional MEC protocol, through which all proposals are evaluated.

According to Dyogo Patriota, Crub’s lawyer in the action, the calls of Mais Médicos did not have the capacity to regionally diversify the opening of courses across the country, favoring large business groups and, later, the interruption under Temer brought a lot of legal uncertainty.

“We are going to continue with the argument of unconstitutionality and that the two systems remain, it cannot be barred [a possibilidade de pedir via] MEC protocol”, says he, who will file appeals with the Supreme Court.

Even in the period of interruption initiated by Temer, vacancies in medical courses ended up having a jump, also because of court decisions. Vacancies went from 109,151 in 2018 to 158,017 in 2021, according to data brought to court by the AGU.

The ordinance of the Lula (PT) government indicates that, in order to open new courses, it is necessary to have “adequate, sufficient and quality public equipment” or the establishment of partnerships with hospitals to make the practical part of the course viable.

There are 502,475 physicians working in Brazil, according to a study by the CFM (Conselho Federal de Medicina) with USP. The average of professionals per thousand inhabitants in Brazil is 2.4, close to some rich countries.

But such a rate camouflages regional inequalities. The presence of professionals per thousand inhabitants ranges from 3.7 in Rio de Janeiro to 0.8 in Maranhão, according to a 2020 study by the National Council of Education. The numbers still hide the concentration of professionals in the capitals, emphasizes the entity.