Health-related claims made at the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Paraná: A study of the Operational Support Center of the Public Health Protection Prosecution Office

Abstract

This study aims at highlighting the main challenges in public health in the state of Paraná during 2016 and 2017, through the analysis of claims made to the state Public Prosecutor’Office. The proposal is to provide instruments to public health care managers and users to recognize and confront pressing health needs. It was carried out a qualitative and documentar study through the organization and analysis of data from the information system of theOperational Support Center of the Public Health Protection Prosecution Office. In the categorization, five initial classes were adopted, indicated by the service studied. Subsequently, the corresponding final categories were recognized and guiding concepts were formulated, based on the foundations of the Health Law. The results showed a predominance of claims related to requests for medicines, supplies and procedures. The category referring to occurrences of bad professional practice was also remarkable. The study concluded that the main weakness in the state of Paraná, reported to the Public Prosecutor, was the supply of medicines. With the finding that the dominant problem pointed out by the study is related to the supply of drugs and, consequently, to the limitations of the universality and integrality of the public health system, the variants imbricated in these precepts were discussed: lack of definition regarding the boundaries of the State’s duty of offering services and products; the extent and claim of pharmaceutical assistance policy of the Brazilian National Health System; conflicting interests between the State and the market; regulatory challenges, among others.