Lula has to review the extinction of Funasa, says leader – 02/16/2023 – Panel

Resistance to the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government’s decision to extinguish Funasa (National Health Foundation) has grown in Congress and within the institution itself.

In Paraíba, the state superintendent of the agency, Virgínia Veloso, says she hopes that the president will back down from what she calls “a very big mistake”.

“I know the president is going to review this, after all he was elected to take care of the poorest, especially those in the Northeast”, says she, who has close connections with the political world. Former mayor of Pilar, she is the mother of federal deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP) and Senator Daniella Ribeiro (PSD).

The speech has been repeated among parliamentarians, especially those representing the North and Northeast. Leaders linked to the government already admit a retreat.

According to the superintendent in Paraíba, Funasa performs functions in small municipalities that are not of interest to other agencies, much less to the private sector.

“Funasa is in charge of rural sanitation actions, cisterns, community wells, sewage treatment, solid waste treatment and other actions. The most isolated population depends on us”, he says. She says that Funasa is present in 219 of the 223 municipalities in Paraíba. “It’s very sad if this all ends.”

According to her, the government’s proposal to transfer part of Funasa’s attributions to the Ministry of Cities, such as sanitation actions, does not work. “I would like people who defend this idea to visit the municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants where Funasa works”.

Veloso says he is confident that parliamentarians will be sensitized by the body’s action in Paraíba and in other states to keep the instance running.

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