Brazilian Ministry of Health approves plan to reduce queues for operations

The Brazilian Ministry of Health, the National Council of Health Ministers (Conass) and the National Council of Municipal Health Secretariats (Conasems) have approved the National Programme to reduce waiting lists for elective surgery, additional examinations and specialised consultations. A decision to this effect was taken during the regular meeting of the Tripartite Inter-Ministerial Commission (CTI) 2023.

According to the Ministry of Health, R$600 million (US$117.4 million) is planned for the programme. The first batch of funds, about R$200 million (R$39.1 million), will be allocated for routine operations.

"What we are discussing with the states and municipalities is a programme to deal with different problems and, based on our experience, as Brazil's Unified Health System (SUS) has been running for more than 20 years, we are going to start with operations. At the same time, we will discuss trilaterally how to achieve more structural changes," said Minister of Specialised Health Services (SAES) Helvesio Magalhaes.

The official added that the objectives include creating a national list of patients waiting for medical procedures, consolidating the information bank, regulating the supply of services with the support of tools such as telemedicine and protocols for accessing specialised care.

A decree introducing the programme will be published in the coming days. Once published, states must send work plans to the Ministry of Health for approval and transfer of funds, as reported by Toda Palavra, a partner of TV BRICS.

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