More Doctors and Doctors Program for Brazil from the perspective of managers

More Doctors and Doctors Program for Brazil

Abstract

Objective: to identify how municipal managers perceive the management of Primary Health Care with the Mais Médicos e Médicos pelo Brasil Program. Method: Descriptive study, with a qualitative approach carried out in Tangará da Serra – MT. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were carried out with five municipal managers, between 2016 and 2021, with an average of three interviews per year to capture perceptions at different moments. The thematic analysis, guided by public policy, was organized according to two topics: municipal and health management, interface with Primary Health Care; and the learning and uncertainties that these programs bring to management. Results: The political option for adhering to these programs and the management challenges that adhering to them imposed allow for the revealing of the inherent difficulties generated by programs of this nature, of an administrative nature, of monitoring as they are mostly foreign professionals, the interruption of the mission and the exchange that, on the one hand, drives public health policy, according to the precepts of the Unified Health System, on the other, encounters obstacles, such as public opinion and the strengthening of the care network. Conclusion: Municipal managers perceive the contribution of the Programs to the expansion of Primary Health Care, in the opportunity to establish and comply with the working day, in addition to providing opportunities for practices closer to a model of comprehensive health care. The study provides important support for historical testimony and the understanding of strategic dynamics so that it can be consolidated as State policies.