SISTEMA DE SAÚDE NO MARANHÃO: O PÚBLICO E O PRIVADO SOB A PERSPECTIVA DE GESTORES, GERENTES, EMPRESÁRIOS E PROFISSIONAIS DE SAÚDE

Abstract

This thesis investigates the interactions between the public and private healthcare systems in Maranhão, based on the perspectives of managers, administrators, healthcare professionals, and business owners. The perspective situated from different positions “within the system” and these agents’ reflections on their daily work practices contributed to an understanding of tensions in the public-private relationship, particularly regarding the coordination of federal entities, human resource management, the role of Social Health Organizations (SHO), and the expansion of Low-Cost Clinics in the state capital. The analysis of these issues through the intertwining of the pathways traversed by these agents allowed for the contextualization of issues raised at the local-regional level. Grounded in the Social and Human Sciences in Health, the research employed mixed methods, combining semi-structured interviews and georeferencing in the capital, São Luís. The results highlight tensions between the Unified Health System (UHS) and the private sector, driven by the selective expansion of the market and the overload of the public network. In the study, SHO and Low-Cost Clinics, which are dependent on the public sector, are presented by their representatives as alternatives for unmet demands within the SUS. The participants emphasized that Primary Health Care (PHC) has been severely affected by hospital-centric policies, leading to the fragmentation of Health Care Networks (HCNs), the precariousness of employment relationships, and hospital overcrowding, even as hospital care expands in rural areas. This scenario unfolds in a context in which the state of Maranhão has progressively opened space, within the UHS framework, for private entities to operate in the provision of healthcare services and hospital management. Through georeferencing, it was demonstrated that the expansion of Low-Cost Clinics is not random; these entities occupy areas of high population density in the center and in some outlying areas of São Luís, located near Basic Health Units (UBS). In this sense, actions coexist within the territory in which the value of health differs: as a universal right and as an economic asset, access to which is mediated by payment. The analysis identifies the expansion of the private sector’s presence in healthcare provision and management within the UHS, reconfiguring care and creating tension around health as a right in the face of its commodification.