President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed into law a new healthcare initiative, the reformed Mais Médicos program, which will cost R$3.7 billion (US$750 million) over three years.
The initiative anticipates an initial opening of 15,000 positions for healthcare professionals, projected to increase to 28,000 by the end of 2023.
Changes to the original program include direct payment to medical professionals, the potential use of telehealth, and reinstating the requirement for program supervisors to be doctors.
Additional modifications include advance notification for doctors about program requirements and available positions, the validity of new participant regulations, and a system for tracking the program’s effectiveness.
The new law also accommodates doctors with disabilities or family members with disabilities, providing leave for domestic violence and special working hours without workload compensation.
Further, the program reserves positions for doctors with disabilities and from ethnic-racial groups.
The government also unveiled an inter-ministerial working group to propose rules for reserving positions for doctors with disabilities and from ethnic-racial groups.
The group will comprise representatives from several ministries.
The first public notice of the new Mais Médicos program resulted in the selection of 3,620 doctors from 34,000 registrants, and the Ministry of Health has launched four additional calls for proposals.