The Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, is considering exchanging positions among his assistants to remove Hélio Angotti, a doctor who defends the Covid kit, from the command of the Secretariat of Science, Technology, Innovation and Strategic Inputs.
Among other functions, the folder handles the approval of SUS guidelines and protocols. The change would be a way to remove Angotti from the debate on the treatment of Covid-19 in the public network.
In January, the secretary rejected guidelines on Covid that contraindicated the use of ineffective drugs against the disease, such as hydroxychloroquine.
The secretary also led some of the efforts made by the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government to disseminate the Covid kit in the SUS, such as the idea of inserting the medicines in the Popular Pharmacy program.
Queiroga’s plan is for the doctor to occupy the Secretary of Labor Management and Health Education, a portfolio currently commanded by doctor Mayra Pinheiro, known as “Captain Chloroquine”.
She is expected to leave her position in Health in the coming weeks and take up a position at the Ministry of Labour, where she is an expert doctor with a public examination.
Mayra plans to leave the government permanently until April to run for a seat in the Chamber of Deputies for the PL, Bolsonaro’s party.
The guidelines for the treatment of the new coronavirus denied by Angotti had been prepared by experts and approved by Conitec (National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in SUS).
To justify the decision, the secretary also signed a note defending hydroxychloroquine and stating that vaccines do not work.
Queiroga’s assistants say that Angotti’s fierce defense of the Covid kit has become a headache for the minister. The Senate Human Rights Commission summoned Queiroga and Angotti to explain the rejection of the guidelines.
Angotti will still evaluate the appeal that questions the veto of the guidelines. If the decision is upheld, Minister Queiroga will be called to comment on the matter.
The tendency is for the minister to suspend Angotti’s decision and try to postpone a final statement on the guidelines, say Queiroga’s assistants. That’s because he won’t have a deadline for the answer.
Queiroga told colleagues that the doctor Sérgio Okane, current head of the Secretariat of Specialized Health Care, should take over the Angotti secretariat. This is the minister’s trusted name.
Okane’s organ would be under the command of a technician from within the secretariat itself.
In addition to evaluating SUS treatments, the Department of Science, Technology, Innovation and Strategic Inputs is seen as strategic in the government for dealing with the health industrial complex, coordinating partnerships between public and private laboratories, among other functions.
The guidelines on Covid-19 vetoed by Angotti would not have the power to prohibit doctors from using ineffective drugs, but they would represent a stain on Bolsonaro’s denialist banners.
This is because the federal government, through the Ministry of Health, would recognize the guidelines against the so-called early treatment.
Queiroga has already made previous attempts to remove Angotti from the Health summit.
In January, the minister supported discussions in the government about the secretary’s nomination for a vacancy as director of Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency), but the idea ran into resistance from Congress to the bolsonarista doctor.
Queiroga did not agree with Angotti’s conduct of the debate on the treatment of Covid-19 in the SUS, according to the minister’s allies.
At the beginning of his administration, the minister appointed the doctor and professor at USP Carlos Carvalho, who was against ineffective drugs, to organize a group that would prepare the opinions.
However, Angotti pointed out possible conflicts of interest in this group and asked the Presidency’s Public Ethics Commission to investigate the opinion that contraindicates the Covid kit.
Even without Queiroga’s approval, the secretary is still trying to exonerate the servant Vania Canuto from the command of Conitec, as she voted in favor of the guidelines prepared by experts.
as showed the leafAngotti suggests the appointment of biologist Regis Bruni Andriolo, a supporter of the Covid kit, to the post.
Queiroga, however, modulated the speech and has invested in the Bolsonarista agenda to hold on to the position.
Although contradicted by Angotti’s decisions, the minister has praised the secretary, stating that he participated in debates such as the transfer of technology for the production of the AstraZeneca vaccine at Fiocruz.
Angotti has a good relationship with the president’s aides and with deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP).
Both participated in a government trip to Israel in 2021 to learn about an anti-Covid nasal spray. The secretary was also on social media broadcasts alongside President Bolsonaro.
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