The Senate approved this Tuesday (4) the proposal that authorizes states and municipalities to pay the national nursing floor with resources that had been destined to combat Covid-19. According to the rapporteur, Senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), about R$ 34 billion are stopped in the health fund accounts and can be used.
Castro acknowledged that the proposal does not solve the problem of private, philanthropic and Santa Casa hospitals, nor does he point to a definitive source of funds, but stated that Congress will “look for alternatives”.
“We are giving substantial financial assistance until December 31, 2023. Then we will sit down with all the people involved in this issue and we will look for alternatives for private hospitals, for philanthropic ones, for the holy houses. And, of course, we are going to provide a more permanent solution”, he said.
“Many of us are looking into these alternatives, but what we are doing here is an emergency. Let’s put it this way: it’s an injection into a vein. These are resources that are already there and that only we will allow, with the approval of this law, to be used , its availability”, he added.
The nursing salary floor was approved by Congress and sanctioned in August, but the Federal Supreme Court (STF) suspended application of the law for 60 days until the source of funds for the payment is clarified.
If Congress approves a source of funding for the nursing floor, Minister Luis Roberto Barroso, rapporteur of the action in the STF, could, in theory, alone revoke the decision that suspended the measure.
Barroso, however, usually submits decisions that he considers constitutionally relevant — such as this one — for a vote by the Supreme Court. The discussion can be held in the virtual plenary by the 11 ministers or in the physical plenary.
The payment of the nursing floor was placed as a priority by the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), after the decision of the STF. The text that allows the reallocation of resources was unanimously approved by the 67 senators present at this Tuesday’s session. The project will be sent to the Chamber of Deputies.
The national nursing floor set a salary of at least R$4,750 for nurses. Nursing technicians must receive 70% of this amount (R$ 3,325), and nursing assistants and midwives, 50% (R$ 2,375).
“We are taking a first measure, which has no fiscal impact. We are just going to allow these resources to have another destination, different from the one transferred by the federal government, so that subnational entities can have a cash reinforcement to face, in this first moment, to this increase in expenditure”, said the rapporteur.
In this Tuesday’s session, the Senate also approved the MP (Provisional Measure) that reopens the deadline for federal public servants to migrate from the Social Security System to the Supplementary Pension Scheme. The migration would end this Wednesday (5), but, with the MP, the deadline was extended until November 30. The text goes to the sanction of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).
José Marques collaborated.
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