“We have shortcomings as well,” says Goretti Reis, regarding healthcare in Aracaju.

Valter Lima, from Sergipe 247 – The Secretary of Health of Aracaju, Goretti Reis (DEM), gave a long presentation on the situation of the department this Thursday (11) at the City Council. For more than two hours, she reiterated the debts which, according to her, exceed R$ 60 million, spoke of the lack of medicines, the non-compliance with surgeries and the possibility of losing federal resources for the construction of new health posts due to lack of land.

Spared by all council members – including those in the opposition – Goretti did not face any more complex questioning. Everyone praised the secretary's performance and expressed confidence in her potential to minimize the sector's problems in the capital. Now that the first 100 days of her tenure have passed, what will be done next? "We need to settle debts with service providers, honor commitments to citizens, and, even in the face of problems, seek emergency measures for the implementation of new proposals, projects, and solutions," she said.

Among all the council members, the speech by Emanuel Nascimento (PT) stood out. He stated that the difficulties in the health system persist across all administrations. “How many secretaries, with extensive resumes, have passed through the department? And even so, they haven't been able to resolve all the pending issues and have faced much criticism from the population. The health situation is complex, and to this day, a solution to the problems has not yet been found. I hope you can succeed,” said the council member.

In a candid moment, Goretti shifted her tone from persistent criticism of previous administrations and acknowledged that the current administration already has problems. "We have flaws too," she confessed. She then stated that the challenge is to improve the quality of services to meet the demands of the population. "We have to optimize costs," she emphasized.

Gym

During her explanation, Goretti Reis said that of the total resources available in the previous fiscal year for elective surgeries, only 51% were applied to this type of care. She also stated that she found a 38% deficit in medications, which has already been reduced to 28%. Regarding the physical structure of the units, the secretary pointed out dilapidated and even dilapidated buildings.

The mayor assured that despite the difficulties, the Health Department is making efforts to restructure the organization of the Unified Health System (SUS), focusing primarily on primary care in the municipality. "The preferred point of contact for SUS users should be primary care, which faces three challenges: being effective, coordinating care, and assuming responsibility for the population, thus enabling the organization to effectively implement health care networks," she said.

The secretary outlined the administration's priorities and proposals, such as reducing the discrepancy in the supply/demand ratio for medical procedures. “We will seek to improve available resources and explore new funding alternatives with the Ministry of Health and the State Health Secretariat. Furthermore, we plan to expand specialty teams and restructure the Hospital Network's care policy, restructure the physical space, maintain and acquire some equipment for the Emergency Units, restructure the Control, Audit, Evaluation and Regulation Center (Nucaar), and review the functions of the Physical and Motor Rehabilitation Service,” she concluded.