PAHO will help Brazil buy drugs for intubation

Brazil’s Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga reported that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a branch of the World Health Organization (WHO), will help the Brazilian government purchase “intubation kits” for COVID-19 patients.

It will be possible, the minister said, to replenish regulating stocks “in a way that this daily operation—bringing supplies to states and municipalities—is made less cumbersome for the Health Ministry, with less anxiety for the Brazilian people.” The first items should arrive in ten days, he said.

The announcement was made by the minister, who was joined by PAHO’s Brazil Director Socorro Gross,  in Brasília on Saturday morning (Apr. 3). They were in a video conference with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom.

She told journalists the organization is ready to make the immediate offer of eight of the more than 20 drugs used in intubation. After the acquisition proceedings are completed, these items may start arriving in two weeks, she noted.

Since last month, the stock of these supplies have reached critical levels at both public and private hospitals across the country, due to the quick increase in the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19.