Brazilian Senate Approves the More Doctors Program

On Tuesday, the Brazilian Senate approved the "More Doctors" program, which was relaunched by President Lula da Silva in March to facilitate the hiring of foreign professionals.

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Previously, this public program had been approved by the Lower House and now it only awaits sanction by Lula, who resumed it after being abandoned by former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023).

This social program guaranteed medical attention to 96 million people in Brazil's most isolated regions. It is expected that it will hire up to 28,000 doctors to care for the poorest population.

These health professionals will be assigned to the posts of the Unified Health System (SUS) located in urban marginal neighborhoods (favelas), Amazonian municipalities, and Indigenous territories.

The tweet reads, "Lula is improving the health of Brazilians. More Doctors. People's Pharmacy. Strengthening the Unified Health System. Return of vaccination. Brazil is smiling."

Thanks to this initiative, foreign professionals will be able to practice for four years without having to revalidate their diploma in front of universities and medical councils.

Contracted professionals will receive salary and educational incentives to ensure they take positions in places most physicians shun because of distance or isolation, and to prevent them from leaving their positions when they receive better job offers.

Created in 2013, the "More Doctors" program was abandoned in 2019 because Bolsonaro questioned the presence of Cuban doctors facilitated by a cooperation agreement, which implied that Brazil made a participation payment to the Government of Cuba.