Bolsonaro: “We are not responsible for the transport of oxygen …

“We are not responsible for bringing oxygen to it”, assured the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, about the health collapse facing the Amazon region and praised the management of the pandemic by its Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello. Given the lack of oxygen tubes to treat patients with severe cases of coronavirus, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has sent assistance to the states of Amazonas and Roraima.

Saturday, in dialogue with the local press, Bolsonaro said it was not the government’s responsibility or authority to bring oxygen to the Amazon and that “we have given it the means” to face the health crisis. The agent He said the Minister of Health had done “an exceptional job” by sending oxygen tubes to Manaus and “also transferring sick staff from Manaus to other neighboring capitals, in particular to university hospitals”.

Meanwhile, the federal police are conducting an investigation into the minister’s conduct during the pandemic. According to Globo media, Pazuello sent 120,000 units of hydroxychloroquine to the Amazon, a drug that so far has not been proven effective in the treatment of covid.

Bolsonaro, for his part, downplayed the investigation and argued that it was part of a strategy of the left parties. “(Pazuello) works Sunday to Sunday, he comes back at night, I doubt that with someone else he would have had the answer he gives,” he praised.

In mid-January, the Brazilian population made a cacerolazo against the president and demanded better management of the pandemic.

After Bolsonaro’s statements, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza reaffirmed his country will continue to send oxygen to the people of Amazonas and Roraima “On the instructions of President Nicolás Maduro.” “It is our moral and human obligation,” Arreaza said.

On January 27, Brazilian Senator Telmário Mota announced that the state of Roraima had received 20,000 cubic feet of oxygen sent by the Venezuelan government, which also signed an agreement to send, every seven days, 80,000 kilograms, five gandolas with oxygen in Manaus. , capital of Amazonas.

Due to the lack of medical supplies and beds, public hospitals have started to transfer their patients to 13 other Brazilian cities. Local media reported that on Saturday morning, 335 patients had been transferred by the state government, but 11 of these patients died before reaching their destination.

The Amazon region is the most affected by the coronavirus: as of Friday, they had been confirmed a total of 261 thousand cases and 7,700 people died since the start of the pandemic. Currently, more than 2,000 people are hospitalized with the disease.