The Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday (4), by 449 in favor and 12 against, the bill establishing a salary floor for nurses, technicians and nursing assistants and midwives. Coming from the Senate, the matter goes to presidential sanction.
According to the text, the minimum initial amount for nurses will be R$ 4,750, to be paid nationally in both public and private hospitals. In other cases, the floor will be proportional: 70% of the nurses’ floor for nursing technicians and 50% of the value for nursing assistants and midwives.
With the plenary gallery full of professionals who defend the proposal, this was the first vote after the restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic in which the presence of the external public was allowed.
The text establishes that the floor of the category will be readjusted based on the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) and also guarantees the maintenance of salaries eventually higher than the initial suggested value, regardless of the working day for which the professional has been hired.
“Nursing professionals make up more than 70% of the health workforce, with 90% of these being women, many with a double” — or triple — “workday. In primary care, there are more than 200,000 professionals making up the Family Health teams, the Street Clinic, UPAs, specialty centers, vaccine rooms and in the various health programs. In addition to being present 24 hours a day in hospital units, nursing works from the front door, in the emergency services, inpatient sector, ICUs, surgical centers, among others”, defended the proposal’s rapporteur, deputy Carmen Zanotto (Citizenship – SC) .
According to Carmen Zanotto, the proposal has an impact of R$ 50 million a year in the Union, but there is no forecast on the expenses of public entities and the private sector. The deputy said that parliamentarians are studying ways to make resources available to guarantee the minimum wage. Among the options analyzed is the exemption of charges and the expansion of resources to be transferred by the National Health Fund (FNS) to states and municipalities.
Contrary
The only party opposed to the measure, the New Party tried to remove the proposal from the voting agenda this Wednesday. For the leader of the acronym, deputy Tiago Mitraud (MG), the measure is electoral and has a high budgetary impact.
“This project will end Brazilian health, because we are going to see the holy houses closing, health beds closing and the professionals who are here today fighting for the unemployed floor, because the municipalities will not be able to pay this floor”, he said.
Challenge
The approved text does not indicate a source of funds for the payment of the floor. According to the government leader, deputy Ricardo Barros (PP-PR), the creation of the floor is a great challenge for the public coffers.
“Today there are great challenges to be faced by this House. We have the R$ 2 billion promised for the Santas Casas, the R$ 5 billion for urban public transport. We have the Safra Plan, which needs another R$ 2 billion, and we have this nursing project. It is R$ 16 billion. All of them are waiting for the source of funds and we are working long, insistently, in the search for resources to guarantee the achievements, so that they are effective, “he said.
According to estimates by the National Health Confederation (CNSaúde), the approval of the bill will cause a 12% increase in the price of health plans. The confederation brings together private and philanthropic hospitals in Brazil, as well as clinics, nursing homes, clinical analysis and clinical pathology laboratories, diagnostic, imaging and physiotherapy services, among other units of the kind, totaling more than 250,000 establishments across the country.
