On poor medical care
A critical series on Brazilian medical care, its historical structure and the difficulties of patients and professionals.
In 2004, Pedro published a critical series on medical care in Brazil. The title is blunt: "On poor medical care". The text walks through the historical structure of care in the country, from the Santas Casas to INAMPS and the SUS, to explain why patient and professional both arrived at the consultation frustrated.
He wrote with the authority of someone on both sides: a private-practice doctor and, at the same time, a professional who worked in public services and knew queues, salaries and lack of structure from within.
The critique does not spare his own profession. Hurried consultations, tests ordered in excess and the loss of the clinical examination appear as symptoms of a system that paid badly and demanded volume. This text opens the most political phase of his writing, which would continue until 2008.
This article is part of the historical archive of Pedro Moretti Guedes. It should be read as a document of its time: Medicine, pharmacology and health recommendations have changed since publication.
The original clipping is preserved by the family and will be published here once the scan can be checked against the original.