Brazilian Health Minister Nelson Teich resigned Friday after two weeks since being appointed over what an official said was “incompatibility” with President Jair Bolsonaro’s approach to fighting the country’s spiralling coronavirus crisis.
Teich, a 62-year-old oncologist, joined the far-right president’s cabinet on April 17, the day after Bolsonaro sacked his predecessor, Luiz Henrique Mandetta,AFP reported.
Mandetta had also clashed with the president, a vocal critic of the stay-at-home measures the then-minister recommended to contain the new coronavirus.
Teich took over the post promising “total alignment” with the president, but rifts soon emerged.
Teich and Bolsonaro “were incompatible on certain courses of action,” a ministry source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Teich was taken by surprise last week when Bolsonaro issued a decree without consulting him that declared beauty salons and gyms “essential services” exempt from business closures.
The final straw for Teich was reportedly a disagreement with Bolsonaro overusing chloroquine to treat the virus
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