PURPOSE: to investigate the distribution of speech therapists in the state of Minas Gerais, their inclusion in SUS (Unique Health System) and analyze the geographical variations of this distribution and its inequalities. METHOD: analyzing Reports in Health Information of 853 municipalities in Minas Gerais, in the year of 2009, which are available at the Health Information System in Brazil, called DATASUS. The indicators: municipal population, total number of speech therapists in SUS and in the private network and the average number of speech therapists (SUS and private network) per thousand inhabitants were examined. RESULTS: data analysis revealed the presence of 1733 speech therapists acting in the state in 2009. Of these, 67.8% attended the SUS system. Of the 853 municipalities, 505 (59%) lacked the professional speech therapist in the investigated period. It was observed that among the 13 state geographical regions, the Centre-South and South regions had the best average of speech therapists per 10,000 inhabitants (1/10.000) and the North of Minas Gerais and Northeast regions, the worst, 0.16 and 0.05 / 10,000, respectively. IWe observed the presence of 0.58 speech therapists/10.000 inhabitants available in SUS and 0.86 speech pathologist/10.000 in the private network and health care system in Brazil. CONCLUSION: the inclusion of speech therapists in the state health care is poor, being observed a great disparity in the distribution of professionals. The bottleneck in the speech therapy care in SUS in Minas Gerais is notorious, since that for every 17 000 Minas residents there was only one speech therapist in SUS in the state in 2009. It is important to highlight the need for mobilization of professionals and health managers to ensure health care integrity in the state.
Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences; Single Health System; Health Care (Public Health); Health Services Accessibility
