Temer reshuffles cabinet ahead of 7 October general elections

Tuesday, April 3rd 2018 - 09:06 UTC

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Temer's presidential palace announced on Saturday that Gilberto Occhi, CEO of state-run bank Caixa Econômica Federal, will assume as the new health minister.

More than one-third of the ministers in Temer’s cabinet are expected to resign this week to campaign in the 7 October general elections. The most outstanding figure of the lot is Finance minister Henrique Meirelles who is tipped to become the ruling PMDB presidential candidate, following his success in putting the Brazilian economy back on a growth track.

But that is not all: the presidential palace confirmed on Saturday that Gilberto Occhi, chief executive officer of state-run bank Caixa Econômica Federal, will assume as the country's new health minister.

Occhi will be replaced at the bank by Nelson Antônio de Souza, current executive vice-president of mortgages at Caixa, the president's office said in a statement.

Transport Minister Mauricio Quintella will also be replaced by the head of the National Transport Infrastructure Department, Valter Silveira, the statement added.

Planning Minister Dyogo Oliveira will take over as chief executive of state development bank BNDES, the president’s office said on Sunday. Temer’s office said in a statement that Deputy Planning Minister Esteves Colnago will take over Oliveira’s current role.

However for incoming health minister Occhi, it won't be a caretaker job, given the growing outbreak of yellow fever despite an aggressive vaccination campaign.

In effect the Ministry of Health updated the yellow fever situation in the country indicating that during the monitoring period, from July first, 2017 to 27 March 2018, there were 1,131 cases of yellow fever confirmed, of which 338 died.

This compares to 660 cases and 210 confirmed deaths during the same period last year.

The whole Brazilian territory will be a recommendation area for yellow fever vaccine. The measure will be made gradually, beginning this year and being completed by April 2019. The extension is preventive and aims to anticipate protection against disease for the entire population in case of an increase in the area of circulation of the virus.