The Ministry of Health and the Sarah Kubitschek Hospital Network, which brings together rehabilitation hospitals in seven states and the Federal District, renewed the management contract for another five years, worth R$7.5 billion.
The resources will be used to offer consultations, exams and specialized treatments for patients in the Unified Health System (SUS), mainly in the areas of neurology, orthopedics, physiotherapy and others, the main focus of the Sarah network..
Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha, accompanied by the president of Hospital Sarah, Lúcia Willadino Braga, visits the Sarah Network of Rehabilitation Hospitals. Photo: Fabio Rodrigues-Pozzebom/ Agência Brasil
The measure integrates actions of the Now There Are Experts programlaunched this year and which aims to expand medical care in specialized areas, reducing the waiting list for elective surgeries, exams and other more complex procedures.
The Minister of Health, Alexandre Padilha, visited the network’s main unit, in Brasília, this Wednesday morning (31), to sign the contract.
“Investments will support the Sarah Network to provide more and more integrated care for those who need rehabilitation, especially in the areas of neurology and orthopedics. They will help the network’s hospitals to carry out more surgeries, more specialized consultations. There are 2.1 million people served, a large volume.”
For 2026, according to the ministry, 1.7 million exams and therapies are planned, in addition to 515.4 thousand consultations for the public network. The renewal of the partnership with Rede Sarah should ensure free and excellent service by Rede Sarah units, located in the states of Pará, Minas Gerais, Ceará, Amapá, Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Maranhão, in addition to the Federal District.
Recognized nationally and internationally as a reference in highly complex rehabilitation, Rede Sarah has operated in an integrated manner with the SUS for 25 years. Over this period, the federal government invested more than R$11.8 billion in the partnership.
In 2025, Sarah Network hospitals carried out more than 512 thousand consultations for the SUS; 3.6 million procedures, consultations and rehabilitation actions by higher education professionals; 1.6 million auxiliary diagnostic and therapeutic services; 22.9 thousand hospitalizations; and 20,700 surgical procedures.
The contract, which includes the participation of the Ministries of Finance and Management and Innovation in Public Services, comes into force from this Thursday (1). Actions are also planned to improve service and develop research.
14 million surgeries
During the visit to Rede Sarah, the Minister of Health made a positive assessment of the implementation of the Agora Tem Especialistas program. According to him, the year 2025 will end with a record number of medical procedures.
“We are going to exceed 14.2 million surgeries performed in 2025. This was one of the biggest bottlenecks, it still is, it is something that we need to continue facing and expanding more and more. It is one of the main reasons why people are waiting so long in queues in municipalities, states, in SUS queues”, he said.
According to the minister, the year will end with more than 4 million exams carried out by the SUS and a record number of chemotherapy also carried out by the public system.
“The year will end with the largest national joint efforts that the SUS has ever carried out in its history, in the involvement with university hospitals throughout Brazil, the involvement we have made with philanthropic hospitals and expanded radiotherapy centers throughout Brazil. Our goal for 2026 is to ensure that every Brazilian state has an up-to-date radiotherapy treatment center for cancer.”
According to the minister, the last state missing is Roraima, and the equipment is already in the state.
