Assistência à saúde disponibilizada às famílias do subúrbio de Periperi – Salvador - Ba, nas décadas de 1960 a 2010: resgate histórico

Abstract

This paper pays homage to a father and medical doctor who dedicated 25 years to Periperi, an area located on the northern surroundings of Salvador. Salvador is the capital of the state of Bahia, and is itself a micro-region, located in the macro-region East.The exact designation, as far as public health care is concerned, is First Regional Health Directory.The researcher lived in Periperi during childhood and part of her youth, being the daughter of the first physician to actually live in the aforementioned railway district. He started work as soon as she graduated from Medical School in 1942. The author has also worked in that area for 50 years. She has also started the first private clinic in the area, where office and emergency calls were available. The present work is a qualitative and basically descriptive piece of research -a case study-but utilizing various methodological strategies. The research instrument has been a semi-structured questionnaire, applied to families who now live in Periperi or who have lived there in the past. The sample was classified according to the decades from 1960 to 2010. Sixty five families with children were selected, with data on birth date, gender, birth and vaccination places, immunopreventable diseases, subsequent doctor’s calls and further details about the local history. Details from available patient files at the authors office (42% out of 1203 consultations) an from files belonging to the office of "Atendimentos Médicos Especializados" (AME), where the author also worked (28 % of 6535 files). Concerning the alluded 65 families, 203 births were registered and a total of 207 infants were born, being two cases of twins.Two infants were adopted. Most births occurred at home in the 1960s and 1970s. Birthswere assisted mainly by midwives and most families had several children. The first case of a family having an only child happened in the 1980s. This became the model for 80% of the families in the 2000s. Vaccination was performed most frequently in Periperi. Immunopreventable diseases began to decrease in incidence. Private insurance was used to some extent but SUS (Unified Health System, a governmental initiative) took the leadership in the 2000s. The developmental and cultural mark of the 2000s was the building of a road, namely, Avenida Afrânio Peixoto or Avenida Suburbana, after the birth of many private medical offices. The pediatrics office was responsible for 52,8% of pediatric consultations, the remaining 24,26% being covered by UNIMED, a private insurance. Six specialties and eight doctors were responsible for the clinical work at Clínic AME. Gynecology, Internal Medicine and Ultrassonography were the leading specialties. AME also serve as a basis for research conducted by UFBA and UCSAL. Health Fairs and Educational Fairs promoted by Lions Club Salvador-Periperi received support from AME. Lions Club and Fiocruz used their space and international research about schistosomiasis was performed in their facilities. The evolution of health care and the success of governmental health plans was visible. The change in vaccination routine was successf and SUS has been recognized as a good health system. Doctors, however, appeared to be more humanistic in the past.