The aim of the More Doctors in Brazil Project (MDBP) is to supply human resources to the Brazilian National Health System by improving the infrastructure of the healthcare network; expanding educational reforms in medical courses and residencies; and supplying physicians to vulnerable areas. The implementation of the MDBP faced strong opposition, especially from Brazilian medical institutions. Inspired by the concept of “myth,” the present study conducted a reading of the discourse used by the Brazilian Federal Board of Medicine to support its arguments, by analyzing editions of the Medicina newletter published by the Board in the first 24 months of the project’s implementation. The myth reveals how discursive practices introduce allegories into the collective imagery that define ideological spaces and enable an analysis of the process of social dispute and the historical conditions behind the formulation and implementation of a government program.
Health policy; Planning and administration; Government programs; Government Health Plans; Primary Health Care; Brazilian National Health System