The problem of the vacant spots in some of the specialties of Medical Residency, deficit of specialists in some parts of the country, as well as a drawback rate of approximately 20% of scholarship students during the Medical Residency, were some of the problems raised at the debate “What is the future of Medical Residency in Brazil?”, held at the FMUSP Theater, on December 9^th.

The creation of support programs for Medical Residency in some specialties or in certain regions where there is a deficit of doctors was one of the suggestions pointed out by the participants of the debate. Other recurrent suggestions were the need to increase the payment of the scholarship, the psychological follow up and a flexible working time for the medical residents, besides the need to improve the Informational System of the Medical Residency National Committee.

“Without a doubt we need a state policy for the issue of idleness. We collected data and we are working with Prof. Mário Scheffer [from the Preventive Medicine Department of FMUSP] to accomplish a survey of the base specialties, as a way to induce more sustainable programs for Medical Residency”, said the director of the Health Work Management Department of the Health Ministry, Alessandro Glauco dos Anjos Vasconcellos.

The Health Ministry representative agrees the amount paid by the scholarships to the residents needs to be updated. “It’s very low and, in fact, suffers from an unfair competition in face of other programs, such as the More Doctors program and the one following it, the Doctors for Brazil. There is a budget limit, but who writes the budget is the House of Representatives. Therefore, I believe this can be reviewed through a proposition for change”, said Vasconcellos.

The executive secretary of the Medical Residency National Committee (CNRM), Viviane Cristina Peterlle, participated by videoconference. The following were also part of the event: the former executive secretaries of CNRM, Rosana Leite de Melo and Maria do Patrocínio Tenório Nunes, and the representative of the National Association of Medical Residents (ANMR), Francisco de Assis Romeiro Coelho. Prof. Mário Scheffer, from the Preventive Medicine Department of FMUSP was the responsible for the event’s organization, alongside Prof. Vera Koch, general coordinator of the FMUSP Medical Residency Committee (COREME) and Prof. Luiz Koiti Kimura, administrative coordinator of COREME. The FMUSP vice-director, Prof. Roger Chammas, opened the occasion, which had the general coordination of the FMUSP director, Prof. Tarcisio Eloy Pessoa de Barros Filho.