In Brazil’s Covid CPI, Amazonas state ex-secretary increases pressure on health ministry

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Ex-Health Secretary of Amazonas Marcellus Campêlo said on Tuesday, June 15, in testimony to the Covid CPI (Senate investigative committee) that federal government aid came late to the state and that despite the escalating oxygen crisis, the Bolsonaro administration continued to advocate the priority of ineffective “early treatment” against the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

“The transfer of resources from the federal government, when they came, did so at a time of dropping rates [of bed occupancy],” he said. “The investment was mostly made by the government of Amazonas,” he said.

In addition to delay, Campêlo said that the Ministry of Health sent the wrong equipment to the state, the first to collapse in the pandemic. According to him, still under the administration of ex-Minister of Health Luís Henrique Mandetta, Amazonas requested ventilators from the federal government, which sent about 80 units, 10 of which for veterinary use. “We returned them,” stated Campêlo.

Although trying to preserve the Bolsonaro administration, Campêlo contradicted the testimony of ex-Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello to the same CPI. According to Campêlo, Pazuello was notified of the oxygen collapse in Amazonas on the night of January 7, through a letter from oxygen supplier White Martins.

The ex-Minister had told the CPI that he only learned of the oxygen shortage on January 10. To the Supreme Court (STF), the ex-Minister said he had been notified on January 8. Later, Campêlo said that the e-mail sent on January 7 was related to issues with logistics in the delivery of oxygen cylinders by the company White Martins. The ex-Secretary even said that the oxygen crisis in Manaus, which led to the death of dozens of people, had occurred during January 14 and 15. Later, however, he conceded that the shortage spanned over 20 days.

Nevertheless, the Ministry of Health did not prioritize the issue, which led the state to collapse for the second time. Campêlo confirmed that on the morning of January 11 there was a meeting to discuss the need for logistical support for oxygen transportation with White Martins and the Ministry of Health.

However, hours later, doctor Mayra Pinheiro, the Ministry of Health’s Work and Education Management Secretary, attended an event in Manaus to launch TratCov, an app developed by the portfolio with indications on ineffective early treatment even for babies and pets. The app went offline in late January. Mayra, in her appearance before the CPI, confirmed having insisted on early treatment in Manaus.

Campêlo, who was arrested under Operation Sangria, investigating fraud in contracting to favor local business groups during the pandemic, said that the oxygen shortage in Manaus had been foreseen. According to him, in July 2020, that is, 6 months before the peak of the crisis, White Martins requested a 25% increase in its contract with the state due to a projection of average monthly oxygen consumption.

Campêlo also said that the company alerted the state government about the possibility of an oxygen shortage in the state, information promptly refuted by the State Department of Health (SES-AM) on Tuesday afternoon. In an official note, the SES-AM assured that White Martins’ requests referred only to the increase in the value of the contract and not the amount of oxygen that would be supplied to Amazonas.

Asked about pressure from the federal government to suspend the confinement decreed in the state at the end of December 2020, Campêlo said he was unaware of any intervention from the Planalto. The ex-Secretary credited to violent popular protests the reopening of activities in Manaus early this year.

The ex-Secretary also endorsed the argument about the freedom of his team in conducting the health crisis. “We worked with the necessary freedom to act and propose, and when there was something outside our purview there was a crisis committee.” A committee whose members the deponent said he could not point out.

Campêlo assured that his conscience is clear regarding the management of the health crisis in his state and attributed the health collapse to high contamination, the P.1 variant, and the intense movement of people. “I know that we did everything in our power to face an unprecedented crisis,” he said.

The ex-Secretary’s evasive answers tried the patience of senators. Campêlo did not know how to report or specify crucial data of his management in the portfolio. “His [Marcellus Campêlo’s] presence here did not flow. He came here to explain the inexplicable,” said the CPI president Senator Omar Aziz at the end of the session.

In addition to half-answers, there was another constant in Tuesday’s testimony: the ex-Secretary’s apparent calm that sometimes disconcerted legislators who questioned him. Senator Soraya Thronicke (PSL-MS) even voiced her annoyance at Campêlo’s lack of reactions. “The Secretary [Marcellus Campêlo] is the calmest deponent to have appeared before this CPI, I don’t know if you’re oblivious or if it’s coldness, because I couldn’t remain this calm before this situation. It’s revolting,” she said.

The ex-Secretary’s testimony was, in itself, a low-intensity moment in the Pandemic CPI. The committee had hoped to hear Amazon governor Wilson Lima (PSC) on Thursday last week, but a Supreme Court decision by Justice Rosa Weber released him.

On Tuesday, ex-governor of Rio Wilson Witzel was granted the right not to appear before the CPI by Justice Kássio Nunes Marques. However, Witzel has announced that he intends to appear, eager for a stage to defend himself after being impeached last year.

Source: El Pais