Doctor Eder Gatti will be the director of the Department of Immunization and Vaccine-preventable Diseases of the Ministry of Health.
The name was chosen after reviewing the nomination of public servant Ana Goretti, who has already held the position of substitute coordinator for the PNI (National Immunization Program), due to old publications on social networks in which she praised Lava Jato and her ex -judge Sergio Moro (SP), elected senator by União Brasil. The case was revealed by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.
The Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, even announced the appointment of Ana Goretti on the day of her inauguration, on January 2.
“These names I’m reviewing, but in the case of the PNI I’m already going to anticipate that it is Ana Goretti who has worked for many years on the program”, he said during a press conference.
According to Sheet found out, after the minister’s announcement, an assessment of the servant’s history was made by members of the Ministry of Health and weighed against her appointment the fact that she had manifested herself in the past in favor of Lava Jato, an operation that led to the arrest of the president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
The nomination of Goretti’s name did not even reach the Civil House of Planalto and was reviewed by the Ministry of Health.
Nísia’s allies remember Lula’s guidance for consultation with parties and social movements regarding the names that are considered to occupy sensitive positions, as is the case of the PNI, a program that would be headed by Goretti.
For members of the folder, the minister rushed to announce the server without prior analysis of the profile. Goretti supporters aired the version that her name had been rejected by the Civil House, which was considered by members of the government as pressure in her favor.
For palace advisors, this strategy could become a shot in the foot for Goretti, because it would make it difficult for him to be appointed to positions with less visibility.
In place of Goretti, Eder Gatti was chosen, who currently works at the Emílio Ribas Hospital, at the Professor Alexandre Vranjac Epidemiological Surveillance Center and at the Butantan Institute. He has a specialization in Infectious Diseases from Instituto Emílio Ribas, with a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate in preventive medicine. Gatti is considered within the ministry as a technician qualified to occupy the post.
The name has not yet been published in the Official Gazette of the Union. The government’s timetable calls for directors to be appointed next week.
On Wednesday night (11), amid rumors of name deletion, the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa (PT), consulted the secretary of the SRI (Secretary of Institutional Relations), Alexandre Padilha, about the case. Padilha denied that he was rejected for political reasons.
SRI has worked together with the Civil House in analyzing nominations for the government.
A palace adviser explains that, every time a nominee is exposed, the government receives a flood of information fed by supporters of other candidates for office, without this passing, necessarily, through a formal sieve within the government.
Before Nísia announced Goretti, other names had also been sounded out. There was an invitation for Carla Domingues, former PNI coordinator from 2011 to 2019, to take over the department. However, she declined the invitation.
The department will have great importance in this management. Nísia takes over at a time when the SUS is facing a huge drop in vaccine coverage.
The Minister of Health said at a press conference at the Planalto Palace this week that the vaccination campaign should begin in February.
“We have the great task of recovering the high vaccine coverage in Brazil, the childhood vaccine focus is very important as well. We are talking about Covid and also the high vaccine coverage”, he said.
As with Goretti, the name of Fábio Mesquita, who would head the STI/AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Surveillance Department, was also revised.
Mesquita, who is a pioneer in the fight against HIV in Brazil and an international reference on the subject, was even invited to the position and participated in meetings of directors of the Ministry of Health Surveillance.
The nomination was reexamined last week, however, after opposition from movements, especially that of the president of Foaesp (Forum of NGOs/AIDS of the State of São Paulo), Rodrigo Pinheiro, as shown by the Sheetwho criticized Mesquita’s previous visit to the portfolio.
In his place, the doctor Draurio Barreira, currently manager of Tuberculosis at Unitaid, a global agency linked to the WHO (World Health Organization), was chosen to head the department.
The revision of Mesquita’s name also generated a reaction from other social movements, which supported it.
The government has carried out analyzes regarding the curriculum and also the political positions of nominees to occupy key positions in the Lula administration.
On another front, still in December, another name was barred because of statements defending Operation Lava Jato.
The Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, decided to cancel the appointment of road police officer Edmar Camata to command the PRF (Federal Highway Police).
Dino disclosed the cancellation to journalists 24 hours after announcing the appointment.
“We had a controversy in the last hours and the understanding of him and our team is that it would be more appropriate to carry out this replacement”, said Dino.
As Mônica Bergamo’s column showed, the server was in the past an enthusiast of Lava Jato and of Moro’s work (União Brasil-PR). Camata also used social networks to express, at the time, support for the PT’s arrest.
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