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It's the job of the health minister to give his boss useful policy options to choose from and that requires some level of understanding and accommodating the ot

It's the job of the health minister to give his boss useful policy options to choose from and that requires some level of understanding and accommodating the other variables that the boss has to consider. That means that the health minister has to consider the economy and the economy minister has to consider public health. I don't know much about this guy but if he was as bad at balancing the variables he had to consider as the GP suggests then I can see why he was removed.

rodolphoarruda 7y ago
This is incredibly in alignment with the first speech of the new minister.
grolimpio 7y ago
The former health minister was considering the economy and had speaked public a few times about it. He recommendations were based in the fact that the government couldn't simply switch from a horizontal isolation to a non planned vertical isolation. He main responsibility (at least the short term one) was to not overload the hospitals and put the health professionals in risk, and at least that he has achieved. On the other hand, the president wants a "vertical" isolation without a plan, he simply wants to "reopen the economy" (whatever it means). Remembering that he has largely underplayed the issue, calling it "just a little flu" (probably it would be better translated to: "just a cold"). Brazil doesn't have enough tests to make good decisions about which areas should be in a horizontal isolation or to be instead in a vertical one. The former health minister was clear that all the information coming from his office should be backed by science (and this alone was bugging the president a lot for some reason). This also meant that he, as the health minister, couldn't go public and say that a specific medication was effective to treat the covid-19 just because some tests worked in vitro (any doctor or scientist knows that this alone doesn't mean that it'll work efficiently in vivo). The president behaviour was the opposite, many times he went public to say that a drug tested in vitro was enough to have the horizontal isolation lifted out. And as a consequence or his irresponsible pronouncements, many of his followers ran to the drug stores to buy certain medications, leaving people that really need them for other diseases without medication. So the main issue turned out to be the fact that the former health minister was becoming popular because of his common sense, and everyone knows that in the eyes of a populist, "there can be only one".

rodolphoarruda 7y ago

This is incredibly in alignment with the first speech of the new minister.

grolimpio 7y ago

The former health minister was considering the economy and had speaked public a few times about it. He recommendations were based in the fact that the government couldn't simply switch from a horizontal isolation to a non planned vertical isolation. He main responsibility (at least the short term one) was to not overload the hospitals and put the health professionals in risk, and at least that he has achieved. On the other hand, the president wants a "vertical" isolation without a plan, he simply wants to "reopen the economy" (whatever it means). Remembering that he has largely underplayed the issue, calling it "just a little flu" (probably it would be better translated to: "just a cold"). Brazil doesn't have enough tests to make good decisions about which areas should be in a horizontal isolation or to be instead in a vertical one. The former health minister was clear that all the information coming from his office should be backed by science (and this alone was bugging the president a lot for some reason). This also meant that he, as the health minister, couldn't go public and say that a specific medication was effective to treat the covid-19 just because some tests worked in vitro (any doctor or scientist knows that this alone doesn't mean that it'll work efficiently in vivo). The president behaviour was the opposite, many times he went public to say that a drug tested in vitro was enough to have the horizontal isolation lifted out. And as a consequence or his irresponsible pronouncements, many of his followers ran to the drug stores to buy certain medications, leaving people that really need them for other diseases without medication. So the main issue turned out to be the fact that the former health minister was becoming popular because of his common sense, and everyone knows that in the eyes of a populist, "there can be only one".