Hiring and retaining physicians to work in primary health care in the state of Bahia

Abstract This article analyzes the strategies of work management adopted at the Fundação Estatal Saúde da Família (State Health Family Foundation) (FESF-SUS), which was created to hire and allocate physicians in the Brazilian state of Bahia. The research aims to contribute to the debate about the difficulties of hiring and retaining physicians to work in the public policy promoting family health “Estratégia Saúde da Família” (ESF). The research consisted of a case study adopting several methodological strategies, with emphasis on documentary analysis. The findings show that one solution to hire and retain physicians is the creation of an inter-municipal career. The proposed work management of the Foundation included aspects such as variable compensation, worker mobility between municipalities, and factors associated with the provision of physicians to work in public health. The complexity of this proposal is faced with the lack of experience in operating this form of work management, as well as with the structural and institutional issues that historically marked the work management in the municipalities.