SUS AS A BRAZILIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE:

Notes to encourage recognition and preservation initiatives

Abstract

This essay presents some elements to justify the importance of social recognition of the Brazilian Unified Health System, also called as SUS, from the perspective of becoming a cultural heritage institution. We make some points about its trajectory and, in particular, highlight its role in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, when it demonstrated a great capacity for caring for people and saving lives, gaining positive visibility in society and in the media. We have retrieved from the literature some conceptual contributions on heritagization based on the Federal Constitution of 1988, which broadened the notion of heritage by encompassing different typologies, temporal and social clippings. We highlight the importance of triggering a debate in society in order to disseminate and plead with the competent institutions for the recognition and preservation of the SUS as a Brazilian cultural heritage, linking memory, history and social achievements, with an emphasis on the cultural and political differences that permeate the construction of our health system. Finally, we present some notes that could serve as a framework for argumentative references to support a possible proposal for recognizing and preserving the Unified Health System as Brazilian cultural heritage.