Health will release R$ 200 million from February to states and municipalities to reduce queues at SUS

The federal government will release R$ 200 million starting this month to support states and municipalities in reducing the queue for surgeries, exams and consultations in the SUS (Unified Health System). The intention is to encourage the organization of mutirões across the country to relieve the dammed demand.

The measure is part of the National Policy for Reducing Queues for Elective Surgery, which will be launched this Monday (6) by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and the Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade.

In all, R$ 600 million will be allocated to this measure. The remainder, approximately R$ 400 million, will be transferred according to the production of surgeries performed, mainly abdominal, orthopedic and ophthalmological.

The program is one of the government’s priorities to reduce patient waiting for procedures that were dammed, mainly, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The action also provides strategies to ensure complete surgical teams and improve the flow of care throughout Brazil.

Each state will be able to establish the priority surgeries, according to the local reality. The second phase, expected to take place between April and June 2023, includes diagnostic tests and specialized consultations, focusing on oncological treatments.

According to the Ministry of Health, the criteria and details for the transfer of amounts to state and municipal health funds will be published in an ordinance.

Each federative unit will have to deliver a diagnosis with the real local demand for surgeries, as well as a plan to execute the queue reduction program, so that the release of resources is stipulated. States and municipalities must present the number of procedures performed and size the reduction.

In a meeting with councils of state and municipal secretaries at the end of January, the ministry stated that there is a lack of information on accumulated procedures.

“It is a complete mystery, sometimes, to have this number of queues. We want to know the queue”, said the secretary of Specialized Care at the Ministry of Health, Helvécio Miranda.

“I would say that it is possible for the queue to exceed one or two million people. They are not urgent surgeries, but they cannot be scheduled for two, three, five years from now”, said Miranda.