The healthcare products industry reacted to the federal government’s decision to reduce more than R$290 million in the amount reimbursed to hospitals for procedures and materials used in the SUS (Unified Health System).
The Ministry of Health ordinance, published this Tuesday (21), has 50 devices — most used in cardiovascular surgery, such as pacemakers and defibrillators.
Calculations by Abis (Brazilian Alliance for Innovative Health Industry) indicate a reduction of more than 80% in the unit reimbursement value of the coronary artery stent, which was R$341.17 in the new table. For a defibrillator model, the drop was from R$ 50 thousand to R$ 18.5 thousand, according to the entity.
Bruno Bezerra, executive director of Abraidi (Brazilian Association of Importers and Distributors of Health Products), says that, with lower reimbursement, the supply of some devices to the SUS should become unfeasible, especially for hospitals that buy products only with transfers from the federal government.
He claims that the measure compromises the industry installed in the country and importers, since a significant percentage of products used in health come from abroad. The change adds to the exchange rate and attempts to increase taxes in the sector, in addition to the suspension of elective surgeries to open beds for patients with Covid, in 2020.
“For us, the biggest impact is the legal uncertainty that this brings. Overnight, without any consultation with the sector, without public analysis, the government publishes an ordinance. It scraps the service and strangles distributors, who no longer have condition of bearing operating costs,” says Bezerra.
In the ordinance, the government says that the measure optimizes public resources, which will be deducted from the financial limit of medium and high complexity of the states, the Federal District and municipalities, to be applied in specialized care policies.
With Andressa Motter e Ana Luiza Tieghi
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I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
