Padilha trades politics for the success of the "More Doctors" program.
After landing in Minas Gerais, where he visited the municipality of Montes Claros and met with political leaders to request their participation in the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) program, the Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha, said that, due to the national controversies surrounding the project, he might withdraw from the race for governor of São Paulo; "because of this program, I'm not even thinking about the government of São Paulo anymore," the minister stated.
Mines 247 – Considered a potential candidate for Governor of São Paulo, the Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha (PT), stated that he may withdraw from the race in that state's 2014 election. After arriving in Minas Gerais, where he visited the municipality of Montes Claros and met with political leaders to request their participation in the Mais Médicos Program, the minister said that, due to the national controversies surrounding the project, he may leave the race for the São Paulo state government. "Because of this program, I'm not even thinking about the São Paulo government anymore," he stated.
The project's main goal is to bring foreign doctors to Brazil to work in inland cities. Another point of contention concerns the addition of two years to medical training, requiring graduates to work for 24 months in the Unified Health System (SUS). As reported by the newspaper O Estado de Minas, this last proposal was a suggestion from the medical schools themselves.
According to Padilha, the Federal Government will discuss the proposal to include two more years in medical training, but he stressed that the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate will decide whether or not the suggestion will be accepted. "This debate will be left to Congress. The only thing we know is that, to have better-prepared doctors, we need two years of experience directly working with the population. Doctors need to understand the reality," he said.
Data from the Ministry of Health indicates that, as of last Thursday (18), the program had 13.857 doctors enrolled in 1.221 municipalities. Of the professionals who registered, 11.147 have diplomas from Brazil and 2.710 from abroad. In addition, according to the survey, 12.701 are of Brazilian nationality and 1.156 are foreigners.
Considering that the minister's visit took place in Montes Claros, in the North of Minas Gerais, statistics from the Ministry of Health show that 31 of the 78 municipalities considered priorities by the ministry to join the Mais Médicos program are located in the North of the State, one of the most underserved regions in the country.