Oferta de serviços de saúde : uma análise da Pesquisa Assistência Médico-Sanitária (AMS) de 1999
Francisco Viacava, Lígia Bahia
This work examines data from the Pesquisa Assistência Médico-Sanitária (AMS) collected in 1999, considering the expansion of the supply of health services, the relationships between the public and private sectors and the human resources and technology incorporated in the health establishments. The comparative analysis of the data of AMS 1999 with AMS 1992 evidences a slowing down in the growth rate of the outpatients units, stagnation in the rate of growth for hospitals and an increment of therapeutic and diagnostic units in some medical specialties. The growth of the outpatient units, although at a smaller rate than in previous periods, and the reduction in the supply of hospital beds points out to the reduction of the role played by hospitals in the Brazilian health care model. However, it is still observed the maintenance of the unequal distribution of outpatient units along the different regions of the country, as well as a low specialization and low technological capability of the available public services. The regional disparities turn the distribution of municipal resources into an extremely complex system. The excess or shortage of health care services especially in the big cities, possibly due to the demand of different population segments of the public and private sectors, adds new tensions to the old challenges of promoting the universalism of access to health services, the integrity of health actions and therefore the reduction of social inequalities.