A federal judge in Brazil has accomplished what sunken trees, oppressive heat, and dense jungle terrain could not: a halt to the Imagem do Javari expedition, which sought to bring cutting-edge medical imaging technology to the indigenous tribes of the Amazon rainforest.
The expedition's demise was apparently the result of a turf battle between two Brazilian government agencies that both claim jurisdiction for the welfare of Amazon peoples. While one agency -- the Department of Unknown Tribes of the Federal Indian Department (FUNAI) -- had helped organize the expedition, the other -- the National Health Foundation (FUNASA), Brazil's healthcare agency -- sought to stop it on the grounds that FUNASA was already providing healthcare services to the Amazon tribes.
On April 30, substitute federal judge Fabioloa Bernardi issued an injunction suspending the expedition in response to a complaint filed by the federal government's attorney general's office, according to Amazonia, a Brazilian Web site. The expedition subsequently turned back and its members returned home.
The expedition was launched to address healthcare problems being experienced by the Amazon tribes, in particular an outbreak of infectious diseases like viral hepatitis in the Vale do Javari, one of the most remote regions in the Amazon. Expedition members had hoped to use medical imaging technology like ultrasound and computed radiography to collect images in the field, and send them to a Brazilian hospital for review via PACS software and a satellite collection.
FUNASA maintained that the expedition was unnecessary because it already had a diagnostic program in the region. However, expedition organizers said they had seen no evidence of FUNASA healthcare services in the region, according to Amazonia.
Advocates for the tribes criticized the judge's decision. In an editorial, Amazonia stated: "Clearly, (the judge) did not apply the same principal to Brazil's whites, shutting down hospitals and private health plans throughout the country, whose existence could be considered, in the same manner, a dangerous attestation of the inefficiency of the National Health System."
The Imagem do Javari expedition was an important project aimed at highlighting the healthcare needs of the region's indigenous tribes, according Roberto Smeraldi, director of the Amazon chapter of Friends of the Earth. Smeraldi told AuntMinnie.com via e-mail that while FUNASA in some areas has a good record, it lacks structure and personnel to provide effective healthcare to the people of the Amazon.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writersMay 19, 2004
Related Reading
Amazon expedition encounters first patients -- and sunken tree, April 27, 2004
Expedition brings radiology to remote reaches of the Amazon, April 2, 2004
Vale do Javari: One of the world's last wild places, April 2, 2004
Scanning the globe: Digital technology delivers healthcare to the jungle, April 2, 2004
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