Basic care and early treatment against Covid-19

between engaged charlatanismo and scientific evidence and goog therapeutic practices

Abstract

This article discusses the use of the so-called ‘early treatment’ against Covid-19 during the first year of the pandemic in Brazil. This procedure is analyzed in the context of the crisis in primary health care of the Unified Health System - SUS. It is in it that the engaged charlatanism emerges, which it ignores and despises as scientific evidence and as good therapeutic practices. The discussion begins with the highlight of the deliberate disorganization of primary care in SUS carried out by the federal government of Jair Bolsonaro. It is during this process that the pandemic arrives. Among the effects of the Bolsonaro action is a demobilization of the family health teams. Thus, the guidance of the Ministry of Health focuses only on social isolation and the therapy of serious cases in hospitals and intensive care units. The evolution of the pandemic creates an artificial conflict between health protection and resumption of production. As the pandemic progresses, the primary care gap becomes evident. It is in this space that uses of medicines ‘out of the package’ arise, highlighting chloroquine, azithromycin and ivermectin. Bolsonaro becomes an ardent defender of this ‘treatment’. He ignores the results of clinical research that gradually show its ineffectiveness and the severity of the associated effects. It is due that an important portion of the medical corporation and its entities adhere to the Bolsonarist thesis. It is considered appropriate to call this engaged charlatanism. Finally, Bolsonaro's defense of ‘early treatment’ is included as part of his strategy of political polarization and mobilization of his social base around fraudulent news and the denial of science. Bolsonarist rhetoric has the specific function of neglecting the disease and the need for preventive measures, which contributes to increasing the incidence and lethality.