Brazilian Government Launches “Médicos pelo Brasil” to Replace “Mais Médicos”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – President Jair Bolsonaro introduced today in Brasília the plan designed to replace the embattled Mais Médicos.

Entitled “Médicos pelo Brasil” (Doctors for Brazil), the new program offers 18,000 positions and a career plan for professionals. They could earn up to R$21,000 (US$5,250) in their first year of service with a guarantee increase up to R$31,000 (US$7,750) over time.

Initially, there are 4,823 municipalities to be served in the first year. The number of locations will change each year, according to demand.

According to the Ministry of Health, Mais Médicos faced several issues, such as “a poor selection process, a precarious contract procedure, unsupervised doctors, inconsistent records and a controversial definition of a priority municipality.”

As a result, the ministry decided to open 18,000 positions, 13,000 in locations “difficult to fill.” Some 7,000 posts will be assigned to regions with “the greatest assistance deficit.”

The new program aims to incorporate those professionals with a degree recognized in Brazil and hire supervisors to assess physicians’ productivity and patient satisfaction.

No date has yet been set for the first physician selection exam. The initiative was established through a Provisional Measure issued by the President. Under the constitution, Brazil’s Congress must ratify it within 120 days for it to become statutory law.

The minister said the government had not entirely canceled Mais Médicos, as this could lead to a shortage of professionals until the entire selection process of Médicos pelo Brasil is finalized. However, he expects that Mais Médicos will be entirely replaced by the end of 2020.

In addition to broadening the supply of medical services, the program will provide training in family medicine and attractive salaries in order to retain professionals in small cities and towns far from urban centers.

The government pledges to retain professionals in the cities through federal contracting with career planning.

Physicians will be paid a training grant of R$12,000 net monthly, a R$3,000 bonus for those working in remote locations and an additional R$6,000 for those who settle in the Special Indigenous Sanitary Districts (DSEIs) or on riverside and riverbank areas.

Four salary tiers will be readjusted every three years of program involvement. In addition, physicians will be paid a bonus between 11 and 30 percent for their performance.

“The first tier may amount to R$21,000 and gradually reach R$31,000,” says the ministry.

The figures are much higher than the salaries paid by the current program. Each Mais Médicos professional was paid a grant of R$11,800, in addition to a daily allowance.