President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday downplayed the Brazilian military's recent purchase of Viagra, which drew scrutiny from opposition lawmakers and a flurry of jokes online.

"It was maybe 50,000 pills total. With all due respect, that's nothing," the far-right president said at a meeting with Evangelical Christian ministers at the presidential palace, two days after revelations the armed forces had purchased a sizeable order of sildenafil, the active ingredient in the erectile-dysfunction drug.

"Obviously, that's mostly for retirees and inactive service members," he added, repeating the defense ministry's explanation that the drug would in fact be used by the military to treat high blood pressure and rheumatism.

Bolsonaro, a former army captain, did not comment on the military's latest titter-provoking episode: news on Tuesday that it had also acquired 60 penile implants.

But he attacked the media for swelling the whole thing out of proportion.

"We take abuse every day from a press that acts in very bad faith and is ignorant on the matter," he said.

The purchases were revealed by an opposition lawmaker who obtained the details through a freedom of information request.

They triggered no shortage of jokes on social media, where bemused users shared drawings of tanks with limp cannon and cracks about upping the military's morale.

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Brazilian army's Viagra order draws quips, scrutiny
Rio De Janeiro (AFP) April 11, 2022
The Brazilian military came in for stiff scrutiny Monday after a lawmaker revealed it had purchased Viagra pills for the troops, drawing a flurry of jokes on social media. Congressman Elias Vaz said he had been informed through a freedom of information request that President Jair Bolsonaro's government had approved an order of 35,000 of the erectile-dysfunction pills for the armed forces. "Our hospitals don't have enough medication, and Bolsonaro and his crew are using public money to buy 'the l ... read more