Brazil government, states fight over medical equipment amid COVID-19 pandemic

Amid global pandemic, Brazil’s federal government and the states have reportedly resumed the clash, this time over the procurement of the crucial medical supplies to treat the COVID-19 patients. The local hospitals across states have launched an attack on the Bolsonaro’s federal government, a scenario like the US, for confiscating the protective equipment and the ventilators. While states have been vying with the far-right government for equipment, President Jair Bolsonaro is sharply at odds with the governors about the containment measures of the coronavirus, as per the reports. 

Dr. Riane Azevedo at the Instituto José Frota hospital told the press conference that the health ministry at the center “seized” the ventilators for her hospital even before they could arrive. She added saying that the Brazilian state of Ceara was in urgent need of at least 40 ICU beds in the month of May for which there was equipment shortage. She had managed to procure a highly sought-after cache of ventilators for the overwhelmed hospital when the local supplier said that he could no longer “honour” the agreement, and instead, the equipment was diverted to Brazil’s federal government, confirmed media reports. Dr. Azevedo told the local media broadcasters that the federal government made her feel like working against the country’s own system and it “made no sense”. 

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Emergency equipment ordered thrice

According to reports, several medical equipment supply shipments were also seized in the state of Maranhao that has led to political rivalries between the governor and the Bolsonaro’s government amid the coronavirus pandemic situation. A northeastern state, next to Ceara, Maranhao faced a setback in response to the COVID-19 treatment at its hospitals after the equipment it procured never reached the state. Maranhao’s Secretary of Industry, Commerce and Energy, Simplício Araújo, told the press conference that the state had a pending delivery of emergency 150 ventilators from a Brazilian provider that was confiscated by the federal health ministry. The state had to order a second shipment from China, that got stuck in Germany, while the third shipment that Maranhao urgently required, was never dispatched by the US, local media reported.  

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