Brazil Governors Scour the Globe for Ventilators Amid Pandemic

(Bloomberg) -- When his state on Brazil's northern coast needed ventilators to handle a surge in coronavirus victims, Maranhao Governor Flavio Dino imported 190 units from China through an unusual route.

The cargo made a stop in Ethiopia before arriving in Sao Paulo, where it skipped customs and was flown straight to Sao Luis do Maranhao, the state's capital. Dino had no time to spare -- his state is the poorest in Brazil, with a health care system ill-prepared to cope with the pandemic -- and he was running out of options. Previous purchases had fallen through while in transit through the U.S. and even in Brazil.

“We saw a purchase of 600 ventilators get canceled, probably because of the surge in demand globally,” he said in an interview. “We had to think of new ways.”

Dino is not alone. Brazilian governors are coming up with creative ways to get much-needed medical equipment, avoiding regular routes through Europe and the U.S., and bypassing even the federal government to make it happen.

Their strategies show the great lengths states with little financial and political clout are going to in a bid to secure medical equipment during the pandemic. As Brazil increasingly becomes a global virus hotspot, with more than 5,000 deaths since the outbreak started, state governors say they're competing for scarce global supplies with little assistance from President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the coronavirus as “just a little flu.”

Bolsonaro said on Thursday that governors have turned the coronavirus crisis into a political tool to attack him. Brazil's health ministry said that, while it's supplying the public health system with 14,100 ventilators purchased from national producers, it has the power to take control of medical equipment in case of emergency.

“The measure is temporary and seeks to regulate our system, guaranteeing that everyone is supplied in accordance with the constitutional principal of fairness,” the ministry said in a statement.

Las Vegas Trader

Unable to wait for federal help, another Brazilian state had a hard time importing equipment. Pernambuco, in Brazil's northeastern coast, tried buying ventilators from China and Germany, but was told that both nations were out of stock. Turkey had supplies, but could not guarantee a delivery date. State officials then hired an intermediary -- a Las Vegas-based trader -- to bring the equipment from China through Dubai to Recife, the state's capital.

The nearby state of Bahia had a similar experience. After an initial order worth 43 million reais ($7.6 million) never made it past the U.S., it made a new purchase with another Chinese supplier, demanding that the cargo would not make a stop in any U.S. port or airport.

“We bought respirators from China through an American trader, who canceled the purchase,” Bahia's health secretary Fabio Vilas-Boas said in a interview. “We found out after it moved the sale to New York.”

The alternative, Vilas-Boas added, is to use routes via Argentina or the Middle East, even as they became as much as five times more expensive.

To be sure, not all states are having trouble. Sao Paulo, the hardest-hit by the pandemic, is buying directly from China, fast-tracking payment to avoid issues. Parana and Rio Grande do Sul have successfully imported ventilators, while Distrito Federal, where the capital of Brasilia is located, and Roraima are sourcing all equipment locally.

Meanwhile, as the virus toll continues to mount, Maranhao's Dino is still waiting on part of his Chinese order to arrive. But he won't reveal the route they're taking to get to him.