Following the poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic by the Brazilian President, the country’s Health Minister, Nelson Teich, has decided to resign from his position.
While disclosing this on on Friday May 15, 2020, after just weeks on the job, the minister expressed his disappointment about the way the outbreak is being managed. He stressed that Brazil is one of the world’s worst hot spots.
Teich, who could no longer bear Bolsonaro’s insistence that the country reopen businesses and adopt anti-malarial drugs to fight the virus, decided to resign to protect his reputation in the country.
While expressing his gratitude to the president at a press conference on Friday, Teich stated that he appreciated the privilege to serve as the country’s health minister, saying that he had given it his best.
Meanwhile, the resignation of another health minister in less than a month has triggered fierce criticism from politicians who are instigating actions against the president.
In Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, where the disease has pushed public hospitals to capacity, Brazilians banged pots and pans from their windows in protest
According to Reuters news agency, military members of the Brazilian cabinet are pushing for deputy health minister Eduardo Pazuello, an army general on active duty, to become the new health minister, making permanent his interim role, a government.
Teich resigned a day after Brazil reported a record number of new coronavirus cases. He had replaced Luiz Mandetta, who was forced out on April 16 for resisting Bolsonaro’s pressure to promote hydroxychloroquine and fight state government social distancing orders.
This week, Brazil passed Germany and France in coronavirus cases, with more than 200,000 confirmed diagnoses by Thursday, when the health ministry reported 844 new deaths, bringing the death toll to 13,933.
