Hydroxychloroquine defender suspended for anti-semitic comments

São Paulo’s flagship Israelite Albert Einstein Hospital has suspended Doctor Nise Yamaguchi after being accused of making anti-semitic comments during an interview with the government’s official TV channel.

Ms. Yamaguchi supports using controversial antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine on coronavirus patients. Earlier this year, she was briefly considered for the Health Minister position, occupied on an interim basis by Army General Eduardo Pazuello (who has no medical background) for over two months.

In the interview in question, Ms. Yamaguchi warned views about how the fear of coronavirus may be more dangerous than the virus. At some point, she compared the pandemic to the Holocaust. “Fear is harmful to everything. First, it paralyzes you. It makes you easy to manipulate. Anyone. Do you think that a few Nazi soldiers would be able to control that the hungry Jewish herd if they did not subject them to that daily humiliation?”

The hospital called the anti-semitic statement “unusual” and has opened an investigation before making further decisions.

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