Brazil’s Covid CPI hears Amazonas ex-Health Secretary on hospital collapse and federal funds use

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Covid CPI (Senate investigative comittee) on Tuesday, June 15, is hearing ex-Secretary of Health of Amazonas Marcellus Campêlo. It will be the first hearing to focus on the investigation into states and municipalities’ actions in the use of federal funds.

Marcellus Campêlo handed in his resignation after being detained by the Federal Police earlier this month. The ex-manager is under investigation for alleged fraud in hiring a field hospital.

The healthcare collapse in the state of Amazonas and the death of patients due to an oxygen shortage is one of the CPI’s goals, which is also investigating the federal government’s actions and the transfer of federal funds to local governments.

Campêlo led the Health Secretariat until June 7. He resigned after being arrested by the Federal Police on June 2, during the fourth phase of Operation Sangria.

The operation is investigating if employees of the Amazonas Health Secretariat were involved in fraudulent contracts to favor a group of entrepreneurs in the construction of the Nilton Lins field hospital, used for Covid.

Amazonas governor Wilson Lima is also a target of investigations. There were searches in Lima and Campêlo’s homes, while the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) authorized the lifting of their respective bank and tax secrecy.

Wilson Lima was also summoned by the Covid CPI – the hearing was scheduled for last Wednesday, June 9. The day before, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) granted the governor’s request and allowed him not to appear before the committee.

With the summoning of Campêlo, senators intend to use the hearing to transfer to the ex-Secretary questions they intended to ask the state governor.

“Those who authorized expenses were not reached by the Supreme Court’s decision. We hope that the [former] health secretary of Amazonas can clarify several questions that we would like to ask the governor,” said Senator Eduardo Braga (MDB-AM).

Collapse and oxygen shortage

The CPI approved the summoning of Campêlo on May 5 – that is, before the Federal Police operation. As a witness, he is obliged to tell the truth at the risk of incurring a crime of perjury.

Senators should question him about the circumstances surrounding the collapse registered in Manaus in the first two months this year, patricularly with respect to the oxygen shortage and the actions of government administrators to solve the crisis.

At the time, the number of Covid-19 hospitalizations skyrocketed and health units became overcrowded, which led to an oxygen shortage. Control bodies denounce that people died of asphyxiation in Manaus hospitals and inland cities.

“The hearing of Marcellus Campêlo is essential to clarify all circumstances surrounding the healthcare collapse in the capital of Amazonas earlier this year, mainly with respect to the oxygen shortage and the actions of public managers to solve the crisis,” said Senator Alessandro Vieira (Cidadania-SE), one of the authors of the summons request.

In a request also approved, Senator Marcos Rogério (DEM-RO) maintains that in addition to the oxygen shortage, the ex-secretary must talk about “potential irregularities in contracts, bid rigging, overbilling, embezzlement of public funds, signing contracts with front companies to provide generic or fictitious services, among other illicit activities, making use of funds from the Federal government.

Communication with the Ministry

Senators should also question Campêlo about the exact moment when the federal government was alerted to the crisis in Amazonas. In addition, deputies want to know what measures the federal government took to contain the collapse.

CPI president Senator Omar Aziz (PSD-AM) says that Manaus was made a “guinea pig” to test proven ineffective drugs. On the eve of the collapse, a committee of the Ministry of Health visited the region to distribute drugs with no efficacy against Covid-19, such as chloroquine.

In a testimony to the CPI, ex-Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said that he was only notified about the imminent oxygen shortage on January 10.

The Amazonas Health Secretariat, however, denied this version and said that “the communication was made by phone to Minister Eduardo Pazuello” three days earlier.

Senators also maintain that the committee has documents showing that Campêlo alerted Pazuello about the oxygen shortage on January 7. The communication is recorded in the ex-secretary’s statement to the Federal Police.

Amazonas was assisted by Venezuela, which sent oxygen to the region. To the CPI, ex-Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo said that he had neither made contact nor thanked the neighboring country for sending oxygen to the region.

Source: Globo G1