Published in this Wednesday's edition (6) of the Official Gazette, the decree that recognizes a public health emergency situation in the state of São Paulo due to dengue recommends that São Paulo municipalities suspend the days off and vacations of health agents so that they can help in combating the disease.
The text recommends the “suspension of vacations and days off for agents combating endemic diseases and community health agents, environmental surveillance and health units in the municipality” and “joint action by community health agents and agents combating endemic diseases with the execution of home visiting activities and other field actions to combat mosquitoes Aedes aegypti“.
The decree, which came into force today, also covers other mosquito-borne diseases, such as chikungunya and zika.
Signed by Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), the decree authorizes the state to adopt emergency administrative measures to combat the disease. Are they:
- The acquisition of inputs and materials, the donation and transfer of equipment and goods
- Hiring services strictly necessary to respond to the emergency situation
- The extension, in accordance with the law, of contracts and administrative agreements that favor the fight against mosquitoes that transmit Dengue viruses and other arboviruses, health care for patients affected by these diseases and epidemiological surveillance actions, in accordance with the need determined by the technical areas of the Department of Health
Due to the recognition of the emergency situation, bidding is waived for contracts for this purpose while the decree is in force. “In order to face the emergency situation referred to in this decree, it will also be necessary to hire employees, for a specific period of time, to meet the needs
temporary period of exceptional public interest”, adds the text.
Epidemic in the state
The announcement that the state would declare an emergency due to dengue was made last Tuesday (5) during a press conference.
The decision was taken after the state surpassed 300 cases of the disease per 100,000 inhabitants. When this index is exceeded, the World Health Organization (WHO) considers that there is already an epidemic.
According to the Ministry of Health's Arbovirus Monitoring Panel, the state of São Paulo has 506.5 probable cases of the disease per 100 thousand inhabitants. In absolute numbers, there are 225 thousand probable records of dengue in São Paulo.
Vaccination
In an interview with CNN last Tuesday, the director of the Butantan Institute, Esper Kallás, stated that the state received around 70 thousand doses of the Qdenga vaccine from the Ministry of Health to immunize the São Paulo population.
The number, according to him, is insufficient to meet demand in the state.
“The Ministry of Health has a distribution policy based on the number of cases. The number of doses announced by the ministry is relatively small given the country's needs and, therefore, for example, the state of São Paulo will only receive, in the latest news that We had 70 thousand doses in this first wave that is arriving and, therefore, we do not imagine that it will have an impact on the number of cases”, he stated.
A CNN He sought out the Ministry of Health to obtain a position on Kallás' statement, but received no response.
Source: CNN Brasil
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