Doctors for the hinterland, rural endemics and development: The project of the School of Medicine from Goiás State on focus

Abstract

The School of Medicine from Goiás State was founded in 1960. It represented the apex of the medicine institutionalization in this state. Its constitution is based on an intellectual network that involved doctors of the hinterland and renowned scientists interested in tropical diseases and in a favorable context in which rural endemic diseases was under discussion. The campaign against these diseases, which were considered obstacles to development of the region, became extremely important reaching a national scale in the mid-twentieth century, revealing the medical group from Goiás State who was specialized in these diseases. In order to prepare physicians to work in the hinterland, the School of Medicine only became a reality after the political relationship between Brazilian President Juscelino Kubitschek and the Goiás’ former governor José Ludovico de Almeida became close. Based on articles published by Goiás Medical Journal, the minutes of meetings of local medical society and oral testimonies, this article emphasizes the doctors interest in studying local diseases which resulted in the founding of the School of Medicine. Also, it highlights the position taken by Francisco Ludovico de Almeida Neto in conducting this process and the consolidation of a tradition of tropical disease researches, conducted by the Hospital das Clínicas and the Tropical Institute of Pathology – Units of Goiás School of Medicine that would later become nationwide references.

Keywords: medicine in Goiás State, rural endemic diseases, development.