The Minister of Health, Nísia Trindade, attended a hearing in the Chamber of Deputies, this Wednesday (13), to provide clarifications on the lack and waste of vaccines in her administration, in addition to explaining the distribution of the department’s resources. This is the seventh time that the minister has been questioned by federal deputies, since the beginning of the Lula government.
One of the authors of the invitation request to the minister, federal deputy Kim Kataguiri (União-SP), questioned about R$8 billion that were allocated by the ministry in exchange for political support and caused a lack of control in the transfer to states and municipalities.
“The way in which these resources were allocated raises concerns regarding compliance with the principles of impartiality, efficiency and equity”, says Kataguiri
Vieira de Melo also demanded information about these transfers. “In the name of politics, the department led by Nísia Trindade ignored technical criteria, sending more resources to some cities than they can spend, while others were left with nothing”, he criticizes.
Federal deputy Dr. Frederico (PRD-MG) even stated at the hearing that the Ministry of Health is going through a period of “fat cow”, with a great abundance of assets under the PT administration, compared to the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
The term used by the parliamentarian displeased Nísia Trindade, who responded by saying that her department is committed to ensuring quality healthcare. “I would ask you, out of respect for the health of Brazilians, not to talk about a ‘fat cow’ in health. There is no such thing as a fat cow in health. There is, indeed, a great need among our population for more quality healthcare. This was the pact signed in 1988, when health was established as a right for all and a duty of the State”, replied the minister.
The minister was also questioned about the audit report released by the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) which points to a distortion of R$44 billion in the ministry’s accounts. According to the report, the main distortions involve accounts based on estimates and arise from failures in monitoring processes and divergent interpretations of accounting concepts.
Regarding the audit, Nísia stated that her department has made, throughout 2024, operational adjustments based on the CGU’s preliminary report. She also claimed that the distortion relating to the medicine import stock had its value doubled due to the “double entry” method and the problem had already been resolved.
Lack and waste of vaccines
At the hearing, opposition deputies accused Minister Nísia Trindade about alleged vaccine waste, such as the incineration of more than 2 million doses.
In response, Trindade blamed the administration of former president Jair Bolsonaro for the loss of accumulated doses, stating that the “denial speech of the previous government directly impacted the vaccine supply.”
“Before taking over the Ministry of Health, I was part of the transition working group and was perplexed to learn that the vaccine stock situation was confidential. We had no control over the quality and veracity of the information. (…) There were 158 million of health items expiring by June last year, R$1.2 billion was our assessment of loss given this stock, R$1 million relating to Covid vaccines”, declared the minister.
To minimize losses, the minister announced measures adopted by the Ministry of Health, including the creation of a committee to monitor the management of the department’s materials. Trindade also mentioned negotiations with laboratories to replace expired vaccines, such as COVID-19 doses, with a view to reusing the vaccines.
