The latest Brazilian Health Ministry report shows that 96.6% of the vacancies in the new “Más Docs” program have already been filled, the Brazilian government announced in a statement.
There were 29,780 registrations of health professionals belonging to the Regional Council of Medicine (MRC) in Brazil, of which 20,767 were registered.
8,230 professionals are already allocated to their respective municipalities for immediate action, and up to now, 40 of these physicians have already presented themselves at basic health units, informed the Brazilian Government.
At the time of opening of the entries for the new bid, the ‘Mais Médicos’ system received more than one million simultaneous accesses, which means more than double the number of doctors working in the country.
The high demand of the professionals and the cyber attacks on the system of inscription caused slowness in the computer system and, therefore, the Ministry of Health extended the inscriptions.
“With the high demand and the immediate presentation of the doctor to the municipality, the expectation is to fill the absence of the Cuban doctors with the doctors of the CRM as fast as possible,” said Health Minister Gilberto Occhi.
This vacancy was the emergency measure adopted by the Brazilian Government to guarantee assistance in places that have professionals from Cuba, following a statement from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in which the Cuban Government reported on the closure of the cooperation in the ‘Más Médicos’ program.
On Nov. 14, the Cuban government announced the end of participation in the “Mais Médicos” program due to Bolsonaro’s “threatening statements” related to modifications to the government project, which Havana considered “unacceptable” and conditioning of the approval in tests of competence, as well as the payment of salaries.
the President-elect of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, considered the Cuban doctors “slaves” of a “dictatorship”.
According to the agreements between Brazil, Cuba and PAHO, Cuban doctors received 30% of their salary in Brazil and the remaining amount went to the Havana government, which Bolsonaro considered “unacceptable.”
The “More Doctors” program was created in 2013 by the then Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and allowed thousands of Cuban doctors to provide care to the populations of rural areas of Brazil.
