Health chief in quick exit Brazil
Brazil’s health minister resigned yesterday after less than a month on the job in a sign of continuing upheaval over how the nation should battle the coronavirus pandemic, quitting a day after President Jair Bolsonaro stepped up pressure on him to expand use of the antimalarial drug chloroquine in treating patients.
Dr Nelson Teich, an oncologist and health care consultant, took the job on April 17, faced with the task of aligning the ministry’s actions with the president’s view that Brazil’s economy must not be destroyed by restrictions to control spread of the virus.
Teich’s predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, had also rejected the use of chloroquine, which US President Donald Trump had touted as a treatment.
Four government ministers who spoke after Teich’s resignation defended the idea of patients being allowed to use the drug if they wanted to, including Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and the Cabinet chief of staff, General Walter Braga Netto.
Officials say almost 15,000 people have died in Brazil from Covid-19, though some experts say the figure is significantly higher due to insufficient testing. The peak of the crisis has yet to hit Latin America’s largest nation, experts say.
General Eduardo Pazuello, who had no health experience, became the Health Ministry’s No 2 official in April and will be the interim minister.
Brazilian media have said that Teich’s ability to do his job had been weakened by the appointment of dozens of military personnel to jobs in the ministry.
‘‘Life is made up of choices and today I decided to leave,’’ Teich told journalists in capital Brasilia. He did not explain why he left the job and refused to answer questions.
Braga Netto said Teich left the job ‘‘for personal reasons.’’ Bolsonaro did not comment.
Teich’s resignation came a day after Bolsonaro told business leaders he would ease rules for using chloroquine to treat people with Covid-19. Teich has called use of the drug ‘‘an uncertainty,’’ and warned of its side effects.
The Health Ministry previously allowed chloroquine to be used in Covid-19 cases only for patients hospitalised in serious condition. At Bolsonaro’s urging, the country’s Army Chemical and Pharmaceutical Laboratory boosted chloroquine production in late March.
Researchers last month reported no benefit in a large analysis of the drug or a related substance, hydroxychloroquine, in US hospitals for veterans. Last month, scientists in Brazil stopped part of a study of chloroquine after heart rhythm problems developed in one quarter of people given the higher of two doses being tested.
Governors who have recommended quarantine measures and refrained from touting the drug’s unproven potential said Teich’s resignation reflects Bolsonaro’s failure to manage the pandemic.
Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel, a former ally of Bolsonaro, said ‘‘no-one can do serious work with interference in ministries.’’
‘‘That is why governors and mayors need to lead the pandemic crisis, and not you, Mr President,’’ Witzel said on Twitter.
The governor of Ceara, one of Brazil’s most hard-hit states, said Teich’s exit ‘‘brings enormous insecurity and concern’’.
‘‘It is unacceptable that in the face of this serious health crisis, the focus of the government is still on political and ideological discussions. That is an affront to the nation,’’ Camilo Santana said.
On April 16, Bolsonaro fired Teich’s predecessor, Mandetta, who had become the embodiment of challenges to the president’s opposition to governors’ quarantine recommendations and restrictions on businesses.
The Times