The physician and the health labour market in Brazil – reviewing concepts and changes

Rômulo Maciel Filho 1 Célia Regina Pierantoni 2

Abstract The objective of this article is to understand the issues related to the labour and its applications for the health sector, focusing on the physician. The theme was chosen due to the core importance of this professional for the health and due to the need to know more on the perceived changes in the profession related to: lost of autonomy, labour agreement by salary, working conditions, flexibilization of labour relations, technological incorporation and specialization, primary health priority in the health policy and the recent enlargement of the labour market in Brazil through Health´s Family Strategy. The article intends to contribute to the understanding of the determinants related to Human Resources and of the possibilities of public policies interventions, especially in the health policy, through the analysis of the medical labour market and its historical, political, economical, social and nstitutional context.

1 Economist, doctor in Collective Health, researcher at Departamento de Saúde Coletiva do CPqAM/Fiocruz 2 Physician, doctor in Collective Health; associate professor and researcher at Instituto de Medicina Social da UERJ; coordinator of Estação de Trabalho IMS/UERJ da Rede Observatório de Recursos Humanos em Saúde OPAS/OMS/MS;