BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Brazilian government did not allow Doctors Without Borders to provide assistance in saving him and tripping with suspected cases of COVID-19 in seven villages in the Terena indigenous tribe in southern Brazil, the medical NGO said Thursday.
MSF, or Doctors Without Borders, presented a plan to help seven communities of some 5,000 people, adding that it had been asked for help through tribal leaders.
Instead, the government’s Indigenous Health Agency, Sesai, legalized its own doctors in some other village of 1,000 people, where it said COVID-19 cases were more common.
A Member of Sesai said MSF presented an expanded plan to help Terena communities that was not legal because it did not call communities and resources for use.
Indigenous rights organizations have complained that the government has allowed Christian missionaries to paint with remote tribes despite the threat of contagion through foreigners.
The coronavirus pandemic has endangered indigenous communities without the need for physical care in remote spaces in the Amazon and other parts of Brazil whose network life under giant housing makes social estating impossible.
Brazil’s main indigenous umbrella organization, APIB, has criticized the government of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro for denying the severity of the second worst coronavirus outbreak outside the United States.
According to APIB, 690 indigenous peoples died by COVID-19 and 26,443 cases were shown among Brazil’s 850,000 indigenous peoples.Half of Brazil’s three hundred indigenous tribes have developed infections.
MSF said its doctors were fully aware of the desire to prevent it from spreading contagion in indigenous territories.
“MSF has strict infection prevention and control protocols and has effectively implemented its paints to combat COVID-19 worldwide,” the NGO said in a statement.
Reports by Anthony Boadle; Editing through Daniel Wallis
All quotes were delayed for at least 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of operations and delays.
© 2020 Reuters. All rights are reserved.