Análise da participação dos conselheiros representantes dos usuários no Conselho Municipal de Saúde de São Lourenço do Sul/RS

Abstract

Social control has been emphasized in various segments within the society as being a relevant achievement of the society regarding public policies, especially in the health area. The practice of controlling the actions of the government was legally implemented in Brazil in the 1990s, as a result of the benefits acquired by the society with the Federal Constitution of 1988, which aim was the democratization and the guarantee of the civil rights. However, such advances faced an adverse scenario, as the State assumed the neoliberal conception of Minimum State in the social area. Bearing this in mind, this work analyzes the actions of the Users Segment in the Municipal Health Council of a town in the south of Brazil – São Lourenço do Sul – RS – Brazil - to identify the elements that may contribute to consolidate a social control that will guarantee the acquisition of the rights that are assured by the health policy. The research used the qualitative approach. Data were collected by the means of observation of the meetings and by the application of a questionnaire answered by the counselors who are representative of the users of the health system. Data was analyzed using the discourse analysis. Finally, we concluded that there is an effective participation of the counselors of the users of the health system; however, this participation needs to be qualified, mainly regarding the concept of political participation. The results indicate that the information regarding the health policy is paramount to the qualification of the participation in the council. Likewise, the permanent communication among the represented communities and their counselors is used as fuel and as an incentive to the counselors. On the other hand, the evidence of what is achieved reinforces and validates the participation of the users in the process of social control, which contributes to the democratization and qualification of the health policy.