Capacity of government in Municipal Health Departments

ABSTRACT From the decentralization of Unified Health System (SUS) management, there is a need to discuss the capacity of government, or management, at the municipal level, to implement this policy. This study aims to analyze the capacity of government of Municipal Health Departments in municipalities of Bahia, based on the experience of managers. An online questionnaire, subdivided into 03 dimensions, was applied to 15 managers representing municipal departments of small size (size I) and large size (size II) in the 09 macro regions of health of the state. A punctuation matrix was used, which allowed the quantification and classification of municipalities in each of the dimensions and their capacity to govern. It was obtained that 12 of the municipalities presented moderate, and 03 presented low capacity of government. The dimension related to the organizational design of the Secretariats was the one in which the municipalities presented better performance, followed by work systems in these organizations and professional trajectory of managers. Still, municipalities of size I and those located in more developed regions obtained better overall results. To qualify the managements, it is considered essential to invest in training initiatives and institutional support, prioritizing small size municipalities and located in regions of greater socio-economic vulnerability.