Survey “Medical Demography in Brazil” analyzed the 3 most common procedures: appendicectomy, cholecystectomy and hernias corrections
Patients with health plan are proportionally submitted to more surgeries than those assisted exclusively by SUS (Unified Health System). This is what shows the 2025 edition of the research Medical Demography in Brazilreleased on Wednesday (30.br.2025) by the Ministry of Health, in partnership with FMUSP (USP School of Medicine) and AMB (Brazilian Medical Association). Read A (PDF – XX KB).
The survey analyzed the 3 most frequent surgical procedures in the country: appendicectomy (appendix removal), cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal) and abdominal wall hernias corrections. In all cases, the surgery rate is higher among private plans beneficiaries than among SUS users.
In appendicectomy, considered the most common emergency surgery, 100 interventions were performed by 100 thousand inhabitants in the private network, compared to 74.45 in SUS. Nevertheless, the public system accounted for 70% of the total surgeries by 2023.
The difference was even greater in cholecystectomy: 312.38 procedures per 100,000 inhabitants in the private network, compared to 196.81 in SUS. Even so, the public system accounted for 66% of operations.
The highest disparity was recorded in abdominal hernias corrections: 401.41 surgeries per 100,000 inhabitants in the private network, compared to 215.07 in SUS.
The study also points out that 70% of surgeons work in both public and private sector. Another 20% work only in the private network, while only 10% act exclusively in SUS. About 8% of surgeries are canceled due to lack of professionals, especially anesthetists.
