Development bank plans credit lines for hospitals

Nearly three months after the coronavirus reached Brazil, hospitals’ bottom lines are hurting badly — as procedures not related to the pandemic have taken a nosedive. And, in the macabre economics of healthcare services, Covid-19 patients are not cost-effective for hospitals, according to cardiologist Jorge Moll Filho, founder of upscale hospital network Rede D’Or.

“They do not spend much, but they use ventilators and some drugs which have become ‘as expensive as gold,'” he told newspaper O Globo. “Surgeries generate more revenue for hospitals, and they are down.” Non-urgent procedures have dropped 90 percent in some hospitals, and over 2,000 health workers have lost their jobs, according to the Economy Ministry.

The National Development Bank is set to launch a BRL 2-billion credit line for hospitals and labs for working capital. In March, the bank had already made a credit line available for equipment purchases.

This live blog has reported on the looming multiple health crises indirectly caused by the pandemic. Brazil has observed a decrease in medical services in non-Covid-19 related areas. Since the start of the pandemic, the number of health workers fighting against AIDS and tuberculosis has fallen by around 40 percent. The publication also found that AIDS testing suffered a 22-percent decrease, while less than one-fourth of all expected tuberculosis tests were carried out.

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