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You cannot use the first batch of 152 respirators that the government of Pará bought from China. The equipment for the treatment of patients with the most serious condition of the new coronavirus is part of the quantity of 400 acquired by the State. The shipment of the devices arrived on Monday the 4th, along with another 1,580 infusion pumps. Each respirator cost R $ 126 thousand for the coffers of the state government. The federal and state public prosecutors and federal police are investigating the purchase, which was made without a tender.
The respirators had technical glitches during the installation process and were still unusable. Technicians spotted the problems Friday during the equipment installation process. The respirators, purchased more than 40 days ago, were not shipped with proper regulation to national standards. The state is breaking records of deaths, and the devices are fundamental elements for the opening of new Intensive Care Units (ICU).
Oxygen setup failures
Health professionals had already complained about the origin of the team on social media. However, the problem was only recognized by the government on Friday the 8th. For the population, the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho (MDB), through social networks, declared that the respirators did not “comply with Brazilian operating standards” and “I didn’t have the proper calibration.”
“For everyone to understand: the device must have Brazilian operating standards and must have a calibration that does not send too much or too little oxygen. It has to be absolutely accurate, which did not happen in the tests,” Barbalho explained.
The failures occurred in the oxygen level setting. There were problems with the positive pressure settings at the end of expiration and with the device that allows oxygen to mix with the compressed air to form the inspiring air, called a mixer or blender.
The governor guarantees that the Chinese supplier has already been contacted to resolve the problem. “Regarding the respirator crisis, the government is making the following factory requirements: They deliver 400 fully functioning respirators with absolute urgency and correct fit, and we return the 152 that have no fit.”
Among the other Brazilian buyers, the Pará government paid the lowest price. “We do not accept, under any circumstances, damaging the public purse, which will be preserved,” justified the CEO.
On the same day that the team arrived in Belém, the State Department of Public Health (Sespa) declared that “the State sent 25 respirators and infusion pumps to serve the hospitals of the Santarém Campaign (10 respirators and 40 pumps); Marabá (10 respirators and 40 pumps) and Brief (five respirators and 20 pumps). “
Four respirators and 16 infusion pumps were also destined for Capanema. Tucuruí, Redenção, Altamira, Parauapebas and Abaetetuba must also receive three respirators and 12 infusion pumps for each of the regional hospitals.
Investigation
In total, the government bought 400 respirators from the Chinese factory, but not all have reached the state. According to Sespa, these devices only cost R $ 50.4 million. The total state investment was R $ 100 million in Chinese ICU kits containing 400 respirators, 400 multi-parameter monitors, 400 pulse oximeters and 1,600 infusion pumps.
The Federal Public Ministry, together with the Federal Police and the Public Ministry of the State of Pará, are investigating the purchase of equipment, carried out without a tender. A businessman was arrested last Friday, 7, in Belém, and another is under investigation.
One of the businessmen is also involved in the sale of troubled hospital equipment to the Rio de Janeiro government and was arrested on the basis of an order issued by the State Justice of the state capital.
The Rio de Janeiro investigation led to the arrest of five people. The suspicion is that the group acted to defraud emergency contracts without making an offer to buy personal protective equipment (PPE), intensive care unit (ICU) respirators, masks and rapid tests for covid-19.
The MPF has already sent a recommendation to the State requesting more transparency both in the contagion data for the new coronavirus and in the purchase and acquisition operations carried out by the government of Pará with federal resources. Last April, the State Prosecutor’s Office filed a public civil action against the government of Pará requesting more transparency in the disclosure of documents that make up the tender procedures and public calls related to the contracting of services and the purchase of products during the fight against the pandemic. of the new coronavirus.
In a note, the Pará Federal Police said it had no comment on the ongoing investigations.
Pará registers 43 deaths per day
The lack of such equipment directly affects the recovery of the most serious cases of covid-19 patients. In one week, the number of deaths from the disease doubled. The records were broken every day. At 11:20 in the morning of Saturday the 2nd, the State registered 273 confirmed deaths. This Saturday, 9, until 1 in the afternoon, the number increased to 578 deaths, according to data from Sespa. On average, more than 43 people are fatal victims of the disease every day.
This Saturday 9, 6,775 people tested positive for covid-19. However, the most worrying scenario is the death of patients due to the disease. Pará has been under lockdown since last Thursday the 14th.
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