Before the year 2000, Brazil had less than 100 medical schools. Due to government ideological policy, today we have more than 400. Our disorganization is so great that we don’t even know the exact number of faculties functioning.
It is impossible to find realistic data, as they differ in the MEC, the Ministry of Health and the regional medical councils.
In terms of doctor-inhabitant ratio, we are in 1st place.
We are the country with the most doctors in the world. In real numbers, we are behind only India, which has 1.4 billion inhabitants.
The “Mais Médicos” program, launched in 2013, aimed to address the lack of doctors in the interior and on the outskirts of large cities. From then on, Brazil was flooded with medical schools.
Neither teaching staff nor the presence of a teaching hospital mattered! Much less the requirement for a microscope or cadaver. We forget that doctors do not do health care in isolation.
Adequate working conditions are necessary. That is, the presence of nursing, paramedics and support for subsidiary exams (analysis laboratories, RX, etc.). How is it possible for a doctor to work in the interior of RS, if 50% of the municipalities, shamefully, do not have maternity hospitals!
In the last 20 years, 90% of open positions in medicine were in the private sector. It is estimated that the profit of these institutions will be 30 billion reais per year. It’s the millionaire world of medical courses!
The investment is fantastically profitable, as the course is long (6 years). The monthly fees are high and even exorbitant. Default is despicable.
For this reason, several publicly traded holding companies already own most of the country’s new medical schools. “afya” has 31 faculties. The average monthly fee is 11,600 reais. “yduqs” has 17 and will soon open in Quixada, in Ceará, and Açailandia in Maranhão.
“amnia” has 11 faculties and obtained, by preliminary injunction, approval to open 12 new courses. It’s a gold mine! And a big deal!
To enter a public college in Brazil it is necessary to obtain at least 800 points in the ENEM (National High School Exam). To join a private company you only need to have money! The place is guaranteed!
Therefore, it is urgent to assess the quality of newly graduated doctors.
Their analysis will certainly reveal faculties with deficient and inadequate training.
With encouragement, but without supervision from the Federal Government, it is up to the Federal Council of Medicine and the Regional Councils to denounce this collusion that further harms the weakened health of our country.
We can no longer remain numb and numb in the face of this dramatic scenario.
There are dark clouds on the horizon! As lawyers have done in the past, a national examination of medical graduates is urgently needed.
Carlos Roberto Schwartsmann – doctor and university professor
