Organizações sociais de saúde no Tocantins: a pró-saúde e o aprofundamento das privatizações nos hospitais públicos do estado

Abstract

The present work aims to analyze the processes of deepening privatization in the state's public hospitals, with emphasis on the General Public Hospital of Palmas, through the OSS Pró-Saúde (Beneficent Association of Social and Hospital Assistance), in the years 2011 and 2012. The study aimed to analyze the public-private relationship of health, treated as a commodity by the social organization Pró-Saúde, in all state public hospitals and, in particular, in the management of the largest public hospital in Tocantins, the Hospital Geral de Palmas, between the years 2011 and 2012. To achieve the proposed objective, bibliographical research was used to understand the public-private relationship in health in the context of the structural crisis of capital. Documentary research was also used, based on reports from internal and external control bodies, Federal and State Public Ministry of Tocantins, Federal and Tocantins Courts of Accounts, documents and management reports from Pró-Saúde, management terms of the OSS with the State Department of Health (SESAU) of Tocantins, news on websites and newspapers, health management instruments such as the Pluriannual Plan (PPA), Budget Guidelines Law (LDO), State Health Plan (PES), Annual Plan of Saúde (PAS), as well as laws, ordinances, decrees and other documents published in the Official Gazette of the State of Tocantins. The research showed that the appropriation of public funds in health in Tocantins dates to the 1990s, the same period in which the state emerged. It was observed that the public private relationship built between OSS and SESAU involves the articulation of politicians’ subjects, representatives of large capital, who aim to capture public health budget resources in the state. It is also noted that Pró-Saúde is historic in the state, but during 2011 and 2012, OSS provided the largest privatization of Tocantins, managing 17 state hospitals, including the Hospital Geral de Palmas, the largest in the region. However, the study revealed the true character behind the OSS Pró-Saúde that directly contributed to the unfunding of the SUS and the destruction of social rights in Tocantins. A SUS that was not even able to be born autonomous, as it was already pregnant and remained with the umbilical cord of the OSS.