Estado actual de las especialidades médicas en Chile: realidad en el sistema público no municipalizado / Present status of medical specialties in the Chilean public health system

ABSTRACT

To adequately plan the post graduate training of physicians, we need to know the needs for specialists in the country and the most prevalent diseases and causes of consultations. In 2004, the National System of Health Services assessed the number of hours and types of specialities available, their regional distribution and calculated an approximate number of physicians in charge of those specialities, determining an equivalent per 44 weekly hours of physician. This number of hours is the maximum that a physician is allowed to work per week. Fifty six percent of specialists correspond to basic specialities (3,688 physicians equivalent to 44 hours, 33 percent to primary specialities (2,205 physicians) and 10 percent to subspecialties (666 physicians). The regional distribution of basic specialties is proportional to the population of each region. However, there are gaps in the distribution of primary specialties and subspecialties. The demand for specialists, assessed measuring the yield in minutes of each hired hour, determined that 54 percent of specialist hours are delicated to the new health program that guaranties the access to certain specialties in a predefined lapse, to all beneficiaries (AUGE). Moreover the demand for attentions to cover this health system has a gap of 30 percent in hours or 800 specialists. This motivated the creation of new posts for specialties during 2005 and 2006, equivalent to 250 physicians hired for 44 hours per week.