More Doctors program approved of by population
Minister Renato Janine, President Dilma Rousseff, and Ministers Aloizio Mercadante and Arthur Chioro at the launch ceremony of the report on the More Doctors Program on its second anniversary 
A survey shows that the average mark given by beneficiaries under the More Doctors program is nine. The study was commissioned by the Ministry of Health and conducted by the Group for Public Opinion of the Federal University of Minas Gerais. During a ceremony at the presidential palace Tuesday (Aug 4), government officials celebrated the initiative's second anniversary.
Patients covered are mostly female (80 percent), with children and an income of up to twice the minimum wage. About 40 percent are benefited by the Bolsa Família cash transfer program, the report reveals.
Created in 2013 to send doctors to underserved regions far into the countryside, the initiative was met with much controversy and resistance from health professionals, not least because it includes inviting medics over from overseas. In the last two years, 18,240 doctors were recruited to work in 4,058 municipalities and about 30 indigenous territories, reaching out to 62 million people, as per data from the Health Ministry.
In the view of Health Minister Arthur Chioro, the project has reversed the historic deficit in health care facing some areas in Brazil. He noted that, in the 27 years the country's Unified Public Health Care System (SUS) has been in operation, the service had been hampered by the shortage of doctors for basic care. “It's a program that was created to change the quality of [health services] and the Brazilian population's access to health care,” he added.
In a report on the initiative, the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU in the Portuguese acronym) highlights the poor distribution of medics, and mentions that 26% of the underserved municipalities remain unassisted.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: More Doctors program approved of by population
