Member of Congress, 2011–2019 Mandetta has been an elected federal deputy since the
2010 elections for the 54th Congress; he was reelected in 2014 for the 55th Congress. During his time in Congress, Mandetta was most well known for opposing health policies of the leftist Workers Party government, and in particular its “Mais Medicos” program which brought Cuban doctors to Brazil's most far-flung corners. He voted for the
impeachment of
Dilma Rousseff. Later, he was in favor of the Constitutional Amendment n.º 95 of 2016, that established a new tax regime. In August 2017, voted for the progress of the complaint against president
Michel Temer.
Minister of Health, 2019–2020 On 20 November 2018, Mandetta was confirmed by president-elect
Jair Bolsonaro to assume the Ministry of Health. About the accusations of irregularities when he was Secretary of Health of Campo Grande, Mandetta affirmed a week before the confirmation that he had talked to Bolsonaro about the details of the case. According to him, the president-elect said that only the complaint wouldn't be a reason to block his nomination. Mandetta is currently under investigation for alleged procurement fraud, influence peddling and undeclared campaign donations. Mandetta has received widespread notoriety in 2020 for his handling of the
COVID-19 pandemic in
Brazil. The Health Minister has contradicted President Bolsonaro on numerous occasions; while Mandetta has defended
social distancing measures in order to prevent the spread of
COVID-19, Bolsonaro is an opponent of such measures and has criticized state governors who implemented
lockdowns in their states. According to a
Datafolha poll from April 2020, Mandetta had a 76% approval rating from Brazilians for his handling of the pandemic; 82% of the responses in support of Mandetta were from self-proclaimed Bolsonaro supporters. The president's ministers
Paulo Guedes (Economy) and
Sergio Moro (Justice and Public Security) have also been against the president's position on social distancing and have publicly supported Mandetta. Bolsonaro has expressed his dissatisfaction with the minister multiple times, and reportedly decided to dismiss Mandetta on 6 April 2020 before backing down due to pressure from his advisors. Mandetta announced on 16 April 2020 that he had been fired by Bolsonaro, with oncologist
Nelson Teich as Mandetta's successor as Minister of Health, though Teich would also resign a month later. ==Personal life==