Amid a new wave of Covid-19, Jair Bolsonaro's health ministry is pressuring officials in Manaus to distribute drugs with no proven efficacy-- such as chloroquine and ivermectin--to treat their patients .
Also, health minister Eduardo Pazuello's department asked for authorization to visit Primary Healthcare Centers to encourage the use of the medications. The alternative, not using them, is deemed "unacceptable" in a document sent to the Manaus Municipal Health Secretariat (see below).
Folha contacted the Ministry of Health on Monday evening (11), but has received no response thus far.
Both the capital, Manaus, and the state of Amazonas as a whole have suffered from the lack of beds and equipment and broken records for hospitalizations and death tolls..
In a letter sent to the Manaus City Hall on Friday (7), the Ministry of Health asks for authorization to visit the Primary Healthcare Centers for the treatment of the coronavirus this Monday (11) "so that early treatment is disseminated and adopted as a way to reduce the number of hospitalizations and deaths resulting from the disease."
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon