MOH: Shortage of PPE due to distribution issue, 33m sets on the way
CORONAVIRUS | Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today acknowledged that some hospitals have resorted to makeshift personal protective equipment (PPE) to treat Covid-19 cases and explained that this was due to a distribution issue.
He said the ministry is urgently addressing this, and three million PPE sets are already being distributed to the hospitals...
CORONAVIRUS | Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah today acknowledged that some hospitals have resorted to makeshift personal protective equipment (PPE) to treat Covid-19 cases and explained that this was due to a distribution issue.
He said the ministry is urgently addressing this, and three million PPE sets are already being distributed to the hospitals.
According to him, 33 million more sets will be delivered later this week.
"We do have enough stock now. Three million stock is being distributed.
"The issue is redistribution because of fast-moving hospitals like Sungai Buloh Hospital, their utilisation rate is very high.
"That is the reason why we are going to stock up all the hospitals, to make sure that they have enough for usage over the next couple of weeks. So I don't think this will be an issue because for mask and PPE we have ample stock," Noor Hisham told a press conference in Putrajaya this evening.
He was responding to a request for comments on viral video clips, which showed several hospitals in the country utilising makeshift PPE for their frontliners due to lack of stock.
According to Noor Hisham, they are always monitoring the volume of stocks available at each facility.
The ministry also makes sure that PPE stocks are shared between facilities, he added.
Besides receiving stocks that are ordered by the government, Noor Hisham also said that the ministry has been receiving face masks and PPE from good samaritans who donated the items for frontliners.
"We would like to express our greatest appreciation to those who contributed," he said.
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