A Priority of The More Doctors Program, the Amazon Has Seen Health Inequality Grow in 15 Years
The Legal Amazon, the region most lacking in public sector physicians in the country, will continue to have a shortage of professionals even with the almost 1,900 hirings foreseen in the public announcement for the new More Doctors Program, relaunched by the Lula government this year. Even if all vacancies are filled, the region will reach at most the level of SUS doctors (Sistema Unico de Saude) that the rest of Brazil registered 15 years ago, considering the proportional rate per inhabitant. The disparity between the Amazon and other regions has historically increased. It only decreased during the first phase of the More Doctors Program, promoted by then-president Dilma Rousseff in 2013. In the following years, as the program lost strength, the disparity increased again. To balance the region proportionally, another 21,000 professionals would be needed in the Amazon, regardless of the source of hiring not only through More Doctors but also through broader policies. 's analysis is based on data from the National Register of Health Establishments and includes only the universe of professionals working in the SUS.