The Brazilian government has been harshly criticized for its handling of the crisis. Last week, Supreme Court Justice Ricardo Lewandowski ordered the government to present a response plan to resolve the oxygen deficiency, citing the “negligent behavior” of the Jair Bolsonaro administration in addressing the emergency.
It also highlights that the local government in Amazonas has failed to notify federal authorities of the impending oxygen shortage. “The Department of Health … was notified on (January) 8th via an email from the product manufacturer,” the report said. The provider, named as White Martins in the report, first notified the Amazonas government and then federal authorities, the report said.
It is not clear why reporting oxygen deficiencies to the federal government would have been left to a private contractor. According to the Solicitor General’s report, Manaus’s health department was aware that the city’s health system had been on the verge of collapse since early January.
Manaus City officials did not respond to a request for comment from CNN.
A spokesman for the Amazonas state government told CNN they would provide “ clarifications ” to the attorney general’s office, adding that the state continues to work to mitigate the crisis, including “ transporting oxygen from other states to Manaus, the installation of mini oxygen in hospitals, the transfer of patients for help in other states and the claiming of all production from local oxygen suppliers. “
But the attorney general’s report raises questions as to why the Federal Department of Health was unable to prevent the collapse of Manaus’s health care system after it was informed in advance. Ministry officials traveled to Manaus in early January, and Pazuello visited the city in person from January 11 to January 13.
The next day, a disaster hit the city’s hospitals. On January 14, Amazonas government officials announced that Manaus hospitals and emergency rooms were suffering from crippling oxygen deprivation amid high Covid-19 cases. “We face a lot of difficulties getting medical supplies. And as everyone is following, our biggest difficulty now is getting oxygen,” Gov. Wilson Lima told reporters.
Although the Brazilian Air Force responded by providing emergency supplies of liquid and gaseous oxygen, shortages persist. Logistical problems have exacerbated the crisis, as Manaus supplies mainly enter the city via the Amazon. There is only a highway out of the city, connecting it to the neighboring state of Amapá.
Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello has defended his agency’s response. “We took immediate action,” he said at a news conference in Brasilia on Monday. “There was no indication of oxygen starvation at our meetings in early January. The emergence of the cases was very rapid,” he said.
“When we [visited Manaus] On [January] 4, the problem was not oxygen. The problem was the bed structure, the number of Covid-19 patients, the queues, ”Pazuello also said.
Bolsonaro’s appointment of Pazuello, a former military commander, to lead the Health Ministry has been heavily criticized by the adversary as Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll remains the world’s second highest, behind only that of the United States.
Bolsonaro himself declined any responsibility for the city’s deadly crisis. “There is a problem in Manaus … We mourn death from suffocation, from lack of oxygen, and people blame the government. We have allocated billions to the states, but the ones responsible for the lack of medication are state and municipal health secretaries, ”he told supporters on Monday.
His statement followed Vice President Hamilton Mourão’s claim last week that no one could have foreseen the collapse of the city’s health system.
“You cannot predict what would happen to this (virus) strain that occurs in Manaus. Completely different from what happened in the first half,” said Mourão.