Brazil’s Public Defense Offices want to support Covid-19 victims

Cassandra Castro – From Cenarium

BRASILIA (DF) – The Public Defense Offices of Brazil announced this week that they will align strategies to ensure targeted assistance to family members of Covid-19 victims who died or were left with disabilities due to the use of the so-called “Covid Kit”.

The president of the National Association of Public Defenders (Anadep), Rivana Ricarte, said that all the offices have felt the increase in demand for health care, especially by people in situations of social vulnerability, a condition that has been even more accentuated due to the pandemic.

Rivana explains that the Public Defender’s Offices have internal organizations, such as the health and consumer protection centers, which work on the front line and pass on information to the association’s institutional structure.

The defender pointed out that the Amazon, epicenter of Covid-19 earlier this year, now has the reality of family members of victims of the Coronavirus discussed in the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI) of Covid, which investigates the responsibility of the government in facing the pandemic. The members of the Commission highlighted the importance of the defenders’ work throughout the country.

The president of the Association contacted her colleagues who are coordinators of the thematic commissions to verify what was already being done in a coordinated way to help these families. “On Monday, the 16th, we will hold a meeting with the coordinators of the health and consumer protection units to listen, first, to each reality faced in their places of action and, from there, to outline the strategic work to guarantee the rights of these people”.

The coordinator of the Amazon bench in Congress, Omar Aziz (PSD-AM), said he will formalize a request to the Public Defender of the State of Amazonas (DPE-AM) to be given to start the process of compensation to family members of victims of Covid-19, which were instructed to use drugs without scientific evidence.

The general public defender of Amazonas, Ricardo Paiva, sent a message to the senator, in which he confirmed having learned of the request of the parliamentarian and said that it would be forwarded to the “defender with attribution to act in the matter”. According to the president of the National Association of Public Defenders, the idea is to hold an action with this look aimed at victims who have lost their families.