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🏥 Private practice, public purpose
Lula’s new health care program. A warning for a major biome. The rise of e-cigarette habits among Brazilian young people.
Gustavo Ribeiro, Euan Marshall & Gabriel Terra
June 25, 2025
HEALTH CARE
Lula launches new strategy to unclog public health system
Most Brazilians say long lines for health care threaten the lives of patients who rely on public hospitals. Photo: Joa Souza/Shutterstock
In Brazil, where 70% of the population relies solely on the public health system, long waits for specialized care have become an agonizing norm. Many patients are left in limbo for months waiting to see a cardiologist, neurologist or surgeon — a problem worsened by the Covid pandemic, which caused massive backlogs and disruptions to routine care.
To tackle this, the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration has launched a new program to speed up specialist consultations through Brazil's SUS public health care system. Named “We Now Have Specialists,” the initiative is one of the administration’s biggest bets in health policy and a potential lever to pull up Lula’s sagging approval ratings …
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