Abstract Background In the face of the medical workforce shortage, several countries have promoted the opening of medical schools and the expansion of undergraduate and specialization education in medicine. Few studies have compared the characteristics and effects of expanding the supply of general practitioners and specialist physicians between countries. Brazil and Spain, two countries with distinct historical processes and socioeconomic scenarios, yet both with universal public health systems and common aspects in training

Introduction Regulatory health agencies exist in most public health systems (PHS) and play a crucial role in enacting regulation and overseeing economic activities in order to ensure the quality of health systems, goods and services. Multiple practices of corruption such as bribery or fraud have been reported in health policy and systems. Public health agencies are particularly susceptible to ‘regulatory capture’, a process by which an agency advances the special interests of the industries and