Ends a 5-year ban on new medical courses; queue has 225 orders in queue

In practice, thousands of vacancies were created through injunctions during the 5-year veto; the government now wants to review the criteria with the support of medical associations

This Wednesday 5 ends, after five years in force, the ordinance of Ministry of Education (MEC) which established the suspension of the opening of new courses in Medicinal in the country. The rule was changed in April 2018, during the government Michael Temer and with the support of medical institutions, on the basis of the need to curb the indiscriminate increase of medical faculties without adequate quality and to discuss the criteria for the authorization of vacant posts.

In practice, however, thousands of vacancies were created through lawsuits during the five-year moratorium, and the MEC currently has 225 lawsuits calling for the opening of new medical courses in Brazil. This, according to medical and educational bodies, would represent an increase of about 20,000 vacant posts out of the almost 42,000 already existing in the country, an increase of almost 50%.

This Tuesday 4, the Minister of Education, Camillus Santana, confirmed that the moratorium ordinance will not be extended, but specified that the criteria that will be adopted from now on for the opening of new courses still need to be defined. “We signed an interministerial decree with the Ministry of Health and we are listening to the medical entities. We will launch tenders or authorization models for new courses and define the criteria with the Ministry of Health; the idea is that the need for doctors can be discussed regionally,” she said.

The President of the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM extension), José Hiran Gallo, told the Stadium who was with Santana and confirmed that she should form a working group with representatives of the medical entities to discuss the new criteria.

“The creation of the WG is a positive sign, in the sense of seeking a solution to this problem. The opening of medical schools should not focus on quantitative aspects, but on qualitative ones, only allowing the functioning of institutions located in municipalities that offer minimal infrastructure conditions to enable the best teaching-learning process,” said Gallo.

More doctors

The main question to be answered is whether, from now on, with the end of the suspension, the federal government will continue to follow the rules established in the Law of More doctors, 2013. Establishes that the opening of new vacancies in Medicine must be guided by public tenders from the MEC, which establish the locations that can accommodate new medical schools. The idea was to decentralize the offer of schools outside the large centers and thus expand the training of professionals within the country with the expectation that the internalisation of the courses would also lead to a better distribution of professionals in places difficult to provide.

In fact, the number of vacancies in Medicine has jumped since 2013. According to data from Medical Demography, a study conducted by the USP School of Medicine in collaboration with the Brazilian Medical Association (AMB), the number has increased from 20,570 in 2013 to 41,805 in 2022, an increase of 103%.

The expansion, however, has not yet managed to significantly reduce inequalities in the distribution of professionals in the country. The number of new professionals was a record in the country last year, but they are still concentrated in the capitals and the best-structured cities. According to CFM data, the rate of professionals is 6.21 per thousand inhabitants in the capitals and 1.72 in internal municipalities.

Another survey conducted by CFM and obtained exclusively from Stadium shows that, of the approximately 21,000 new jobs opened in the last decade, 6,000 were created during the moratorium period. The number includes additional vacancies in existing courses, new courses opened with judicial authorization and processes that had been initiated before the suspension order.

Health authorities criticize the effectiveness of the moratorium not only for the loopholes that have allowed the opening of vacancies. According to the representatives of the institutions, the ordinance has not achieved the objective of using the five-year suspension to discuss better criteria for opening courses.

The Brazilian Association of Medical Education (Abem) said the working group set up in 2018 for that discussion went on for more than four years without being activated. “The working group envisaged by the ordinance has never been carried out satisfactorily, meeting 50 months after the scheduled deadline and, therefore, not producing adequate parameters for the regulation and expansion of courses and vacancies in Medicine in Brazil “, the agency said. The report sought, but failed to contact, representatives of the Jair Bolsonaro administration to comment on the criticisms.

Actions

The restrictions imposed by the Mais Médicos program and, subsequently, by the moratorium on the opening of new courses, have led to hundreds of lawsuits mentioned by Minister Camilo Santana, most of which are still pending. The authors argue that both the provisions of the 2013 law and the 2018 ordinance violate the principle of economic freedom and could be considered unconstitutional. The matter is under review by the Federal Supreme Court.

STF will decide on the criteria of the Mais Médicos law

After the end of the moratorium, the target of the judicial imbroglio on the opening of medicine courses will be the constitutionality of the Mais Médicos law, which envisages constraints on the creation of new vacant posts. After the flood of injunctions to the opening of the courses for unconstitutionality of the norm, the National Association of Private Universities (ANUP) was constituted in the Supreme Court, which has among its members educational groups that have opened schools through the Mais Médicos norms . (stf) with a Declarative Appeal of Constitutionality, defending that the opening of new courses is, yes, conditioned by the public tenders of the MEC.

The lawsuit has not yet been judged. The president of the institution, Elisabetta Guedes, affirms that the principle of economic freedom does not apply in this case because the medical course depends on public structures (sus) to train professionals. “Using this facility, he must comply with a public health and education policy.”

Source: Terra

Ben

Ben Stock is a lifestyle journalist and author at Gossipify. He writes about topics such as health, wellness, travel, food and home decor. He provides practical advice and inspiration to improve well-being, keeps readers up to date with latest lifestyle news and trends, known for his engaging writing style, in-depth analysis and unique perspectives.