Brazil governors scour the globe for ventilators

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 healthcare 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 US and even in Brazil. “We saw a purchase of 600 ventilators get canceled, probably because of the surge in demand globally,” he said. “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 US, and bypassing even the federal government to make it happen.
Their strategies show great lengths states with little financial and political clout are going to in a bid to secure medical equipment during the pandemic.