Two additional years of study can lead to residency.

Mariana Tokarnia
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Brasilia – The two additional years to the medical course, foreseen in the More Doctors Program, could constitute a residency in the Unified Health System (SUS). The proposal is still under debate, but, if it goes ahead, the two mandatory years of work in urgent and emergency care foreseen in the program would constitute postgraduate studies, while the undergraduate course would continue to last six years.

According to the press office of the Ministry of Education (MEC), this is a possibility still under technical discussion. Yesterday (23), the Minister of Education, Aloizio Mercadante, showed himself to be sympathetic to the proposal and argued that 50% of medical students do a residency after graduation. Residency in the SUS would be a solution.

Considering the two years as postgraduate studies would also resolve the doubts of the National Education Council (CNE). After a meeting today (24), the president of the CNE's Higher Education Chamber, Gilberto Gonçalves Garcia, spoke of the inconsistency of a postgraduate degree before the undergraduate diploma.

Provisional Measure (MP) 621/2013, which establishes the More Doctors Program, is still under discussion in the National Congress and may undergo changes. The maximum deadline for approval, or rejection, is 120 days. Meanwhile, at the National Education Council (CNE), the curricular guidelines for the medical course are already being discussed and should incorporate the program if approved. The maximum deadline for this debate is 180 days.

Editing: Nadia Franco