Challenges for the public and private healthcare systems in the fight against COVID-19 in São Paulo, SP, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To compare the difficulties faced by the public and private systems’ healthcare systems professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Through an online form, which was sent to healthcare professionals, it was asked what the main difficulties they had to face during the pandemic were, such as the lack of PPEs, beds, professionals, the large number of patients, as well as the proper training in both the public and private sectors. RESULTS: There 389 forms received. Among the people who answered the form, 256 worked only at the public sector, while only 82 worked at the private sector, and 52 of them worked at both. It was possible to realize the disproportionality of the hardships faced by them in both sectors. Regarding the public workers, 42% of those who answered the form faced lack of PPEs, while this number is only 17.1% when it comes to the private sector. As for the number of infected professionals the public scope was also in disadvantage, 33.6% of them were infected, a larger number compared to the 20.7% that showed up in the private scope. The difference between the lack of beds, however, was not statistically relevant according to the chi-square test. CONCLUSION: We concluded that in many ways, as expected, the members of the public system are in disadvantage when compared to the ones in the private one. Factors such as the lack of PPEs and number of infected professionals were extremely out of proportion between both sectors.