Our story

While millions of tests sat waiting, we went to the Amazon.

In 2020, the people on the front line paid the price of waste. This is the story of what we saw, what we got wrong, and why AENTE exists.

Join Turma 2020

21 days

to build a molecular biology lab

250,000+

patients served in mass testing

145,000

tests free to the public

R$ 119

our RT-PCR, with a 24-hour result commitment

Two Brazils in the same year

The resources existed. The problem was getting them to the people who needed them.

Guarulhos, São Paulo, November 2020

7.15 million

RT-PCR tests bought by the federal government sitting in a warehouse. About R$ 290 million in tests near expiry.

Parauapebas, Pará, in about 7 months

100,000

RT-PCR tests in the middle of the Amazon, free to the public and at no cost to the government. Much of the team arrived on chartered flights.

The first 100,000 tests, run by ETG Testes Moleculares in Parauapebas, didn't come out of people's pockets or public funds. Founder Gabriel Rodrigues raised the money through sponsorships from major Brazilian companies. That ingenuity is what got testing to the people who needed it.

What happened

What went right and what went wrong.

  1. April 2020

    A lab in 21 days

    Testes Moleculares, a company run by AENTE's founder, builds a molecular biology lab for mass testing.

  2. May 30

    Parauapebas begins

    Drive-thru RT-PCR tests, with the city and Vale, free to residents and at no cost to the city. The commitment: results in 24 hours.

  3. June

    The first weeks went wrong

    We delayed results and cut service for a few days. We averaged about 600 tests a day, far from the 1,500 target. We were in the middle of the Amazon, just opening. We fixed it and kept going.

  4. August

    More than 41,000 tests

    About one in five people tested was carrying the virus. Knowing that made it possible to isolate people who had no idea they were infected.

  5. November

    7.15 million tests sitting idle

    The tests waited in a federal warehouse in Guarulhos, while states reported incomplete kits and trouble processing samples.

  6. Afterward

    145,000 free tests

    The first 100,000 tests, in about 7 months in Parauapebas, were free. With Itaú, we ran another 45,000 free tests in nearly 100 Brazilian cities, for older people in long-term care homes.

  7. 2023

    The TCU orders an inquiry

    Ruling 313/2023 opens an inquiry into about R$ 243 million in expired Covid-19 supplies and vaccines.

Waiting has a cost too

Without a result, the doctor decides in the dark and the family doesn't know if they can go back to work. In 2020, the wait could be weeks.

  • Municipalities in Ceará, April 2020 up to 19 days
  • Paraíba, samples sent to the reference center about 15 days
  • Public network in Paraná more than 7 days
  • Our commitment in Parauapebas 24 hours

Examples from 2020, not a national average. Public teams moved forward too: Lacen-DF reached about 24 hours by working around the clock.

A test is not a kit

The price of the kit is only the start. A result depends on six parts, and the real cost appears once they are all together.

DNA detection

R$ 42.30 per sample

Federal purchase price of the reagent, without the other items.

RNA extraction

R$ 25 to R$ 28 per sample

Kits bought for a public lab in 2020.

Plastics

Per sample

Tubes, tips, plates and swabs.

Equipment

Investment

Thermocyclers and extractors, and their maintenance.

Logistics

Per route

Collection, cold chain and transport to the lab.

Labor

20 to 30% of the cost

Our estimate, from running the lab.

Miss one part, and nothing happens. In 2021, the Ministry of Health cited a lack of RNA extraction tests among the reasons kits were nearing expiry.

The same problem reached your clinic

The scale changes, but the failure is the same: parts that don't talk to each other, and resources that don't reach the people giving care.

Systems that don't talk

Records, lab, stock and billing kept apart. Your team becomes the bridge between them.

Stock without visibility

Stock, lab and care on one system help you see what is running out before it does.

Money far from care

Public prices, no module sold separately, and nobody paying to appear first.

Brazil's health care won't be saved from a distance.

It will be saved by the people in it every day. AENTE was born so more resources stay with the people. Now we need 2,020 professionals ready to build this with us.

This isn't against the SUS or the people who work in it. Public teams did enormous work. It is against waste.

Quem cuida decide.

Join Turma 2020

The Ministry of Health said at the time that it delivered tests as states requested them, and Anvisa later extended the tests' shelf life by four months. The figures for Parauapebas and tests performed come from the company itself.

Sources