Overindebted and plagued by a strike by the health services for a week, due to unpaid wages, the town hall of Rio de Janeiro entered, Tuesday, December 17, in suspension of payments " until further notice ", according to Official newspaper municipal. The town hall said in a statement that the measure, which came into force on Monday afternoon, "Was punctual" and could "Be canceled at any time".
At the end of last week, justice ordered the freezing of 420 million reais (about 92 million euros) on the municipal accounts to ensure the payment of unpaid wages in the health sector for several months. In its press release, the town hall explains the cessation of payments by the court decision which obliges it to freeze wages.
"Everyone is affected by this irresponsible mayor decision", Manoel Peixinho, professor of administrative law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio (PUC-Rio), told CBN radio.
Critical situation of hospitals
The financial situation of the tourist capital of Brazil is particularly chaotic: healthcare workers, civil servants and employees of companies providing services to municipal hospitals have been on strike for a week because of unpaid wages. The town hall said in a statement that the emergency services continued to operate, giving priority to the most serious cases.
But even before the strike started, the situation of the hospitals was already critical, due to the lack of equipment and nursing staff. Patients with chronic illnesses sometimes have to wait months for treatment and emergency room queues continue to grow.
Last week, the mayor, Marcelo Crivella, requested financial assistance from Brasilia. The health ministry has promised to release 152 million reais (about 33 million euros) soon.
Last Wednesday, the Rio prosecutor's office accused the Crivella administration of having reduced investments to the health sector by 2.2 billion reais (around 500 million euros) since taking office in 2017 .
The prosecution noted, moreover, that the budget allocated to advertising expenditure to promote the management of the municipality had almost doubled in 2019 compared to the previous year.
