Government provision programs: profile and motivations of physicians who migrated from Provab to the More Doctors Program in 2016

The Primary Care Professional Valorization Program (Provab) and the More Doctors Program are different strategies that were adopted simultaneously by the Brazilian Ministry of Health to tackle the lack of primary care physicians in the Brazilian National Health System (SUS), and they have the converging objective of recruiting Brazilians to work in vulnerable areas around the country. This paper analyzes the profiles and motivations of Provab professionals who migrated to the More Doctors Program in 2016.

Secondary data from a Provab monitoring survey carried out by the Ministry of Health were used. The results showed that Provab attracted recently graduated physicians and suggest that the 10% bonus offered to graduates is making Provab a viable alternative to accessing the More Doctors Program for inexperienced physicians who have not yet chosen their career paths, but who are increasingly enthusiastic with regard to primary care.