Changes in health care
The changes needed in the public network and in outpatient care.
In this 2006 text, Pedro lists the changes he considered necessary in the public network and in outpatient care. It is not an abstract manifesto; it is the practical view of someone who saw queues form for lack of organisation, not only for lack of money.
Among the themes are scheduling, referral and counter-referral between primary units and hospitals, the valuing of the general practitioner and reducing the use of the emergency room as a front door.
The article speaks to the expansion of the Family Health Programme, which that year reached thousands of municipalities. Pedro, who had practised family medicine since 1967, recognised in it an old idea with a new name.
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.