Brazil government extends stay of foreigners in More Doctors Program

The stay of Brazilian doctors trained abroad and of foreigners doctors working in More Doctors Program has been extended for more three years. President Dilma Rousseff signed today (Apr. 29), in a ceremony at the presidential office, a provisional presidential decree that allows these doctors to continue working in the program without a university diploma revalidation in Brazil. The law that created the More Doctors program in 2013 provided for the exemption from the diploma revalidation in the first three years of medical action.

According to the Health Ministry, the decree allows 7 ,000 professionals who would leave the More Doctors program this year to continue acting in Brazil. The measure has been proposed to the federal government by the National Front of Mayors, the Brazilian Association of Municipalities, and the National Health Council. Authorities argued that many towns depend on these professionals' work to provide basic health care services.

Addressing at the ceremony, Eduardo Tadeu Pereira, president of the Brazilian Association of Municipalities, celebrated the doctors' stay in the program. According to him, mayors were relieved by the news, since these doctors already know the situation faced by municipalities.

"As a mayor, I know the difficulties we face to hire doctors for primary health care. In addition to bringing the salvation to mayors, the program has brought the salvation to the Brazilian society. I have been saying that this is the Bolsa Família [conditional cash transfer program] for the health sector. It raises the possibility of providing health care for people who need it the most and it also offered the possibility for the population of many towns in this country to have their first access to health care," he reported.

Acting Health Minister Agenor Álvares mentioned the challenges posed and the controversies created when the program was launched and said that only a government legitimized by society would have condition to implement it. "There were arguments from the political point of view, as from professional associations. Only a government legitimized by the society would have the courage to tackle all these issues and to say that the government's commitment is with the Brazilian people, that the government's commitment is with the health sector," he said in his speech.

Criticism

The Federal Council of Medicine and the Brazilian Medical Association are among the professional associations criticizing the program. These associations have criticized the hire of Cuban doctors to participate in the program through a cooperation signed between the Health Ministry and the Pan American Health Organization.

The program was created to provide basic health care assistance by sending doctors to work in underserved regions, with no professionals, far into the countryside and indigenous territories. The program currently has 18,240 doctors working in 4,058 municipalities and in 34 Special Indigenous Health Districts.

* With additional reporting by Paulo Victor Chagas

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta