For those who live in cities in the interior of Mato Grosso do Sul, obtaining specialized care can mean traveling long distances, waiting for referrals and even counting on family help to obtain treatment. Watch the video.
🔎 This report is part of the series “Listen to Me Because I Decide”, shown on MS2 between the 7th and 11th of September. The content is part of TV Morena's special coverage for the 2026 Elections.
Treatment away from home
In Terenos, retired Maria de Almeida Borges, aged 76, needs to travel three times a week to Campo Grande for hemodialysis. The treatment began four years ago, after she had Covid-19 and needed to be hospitalized and intubated.
"When I left the hospital, I went on hemodialysis. And I'm still fighting today."
Maria lives in Terenos, but the city does not have a specialized clinic for performing hemodialysis. To get to treatment, she depends on a van that transports patients to Campo Grande.
The distance between the two cities is around 32 kilometers, but the journey can take approximately two hours due to stops. The routine starts in the morning. On treatment days, Maria needs to wake up early, organize the house and prepare lunch before leaving.
The van has 22 seats and is almost always filled with only patients from Terenos. Around noon, the vehicle arrives at the clinic in Campo Grande, where the treatment begins. The expected return date is around 5pm, but unforeseen circumstances may mean that the patient does not arrive home until 7pm.
"Everything is tiring, your mind is tired. There are days when you feel like giving up, but then you keep going."
Dona Maria in her home following her routine — Photo: Arquivo TV Morena
Children take turns accompanying their mother
In addition to the stress caused by traveling, Maria needs to rely on her children to accompany her to the sessions. The family created a rotation system. As the treatment takes place three times a week, each day one of the children accompanies the mother.
Vanildo de Almeida Borges, a public servant and Maria's son, says that he usually takes time off from work to be able to accompany her.
"We organize ourselves. Each day someone goes with her."
According to him, managers understand the situation and help organize working hours. For Vanildo, if the treatment could be carried out in Terenos, his mother's routine would be less tiring.
Maria herself would also like to have this possibility. For her, undergoing treatment in the city where she lives would allow more flexibility in her schedule and reduce time lost on the road. “If it were here, it would be something else.”
Hospital where Dona Maria undergoes treatment — Photo: TV Morena Archive
Waiting for service
The difficulty in obtaining specialized care also appears in the story of Dona Pedroza, in Coxim.
She began to have health problems after a bout of flu that didn't go away. He sought care at the health center and received medication, but the symptoms returned and worsened.
Over time, chest and back pain came. The family once again sought care through the Unified Health System (SUS), but, according to Dona Pedroza, the referral considered urgent took a long time to arrive.
"It was two months. What if it wasn't urgent? It's to die for, isn't it?"
Faced with the worsening situation, the children decided to save money to take their mother to Campo Grande. The family says that everyone contributed as much as they could to get care.
Dona Pedroza accompanied by her daughter — Photo: TV Morena Archive
Rosângela de Souza, daughter of Dona Pedroza, states that the situation reached a point where family members decided not to wait any longer. “If she didn’t take it off, I believe she wouldn’t be here anymore.”
In Campo Grande, Dona Pedroza saw two specialists until she discovered possible causes for the cough and shortness of breath.
According to her family, she has a nodule in her lungs, another in her breast and also has an enlarged heart. The treatment is not over yet. To be able to pay for part of the care, the family decided to sell a piece of Dona Pedroza's farm.
After starting treatment, Dona Pedroza states that she started to feel better and that her shortness of breath reduced. “Today I feel better.”
*Production: Alysson Maruyama, Caio Tumelero, Gessé López, Michel Pena, Nádia Nicolau, Nicholas Vasconcelos and Rodrigo de Freitas. Images: Aldemir Romero, Fábio Rodrigues, Itamar Silva and Valdeir Pereira. Technical assistant: Nelson Bueno. Videography: Leandro Ricarte and Paulo Ribeiro. Image editing: Paulo Ribeiro. Script and direction: Jaqueline Bortolotto.
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