Group urges gov't to engage stakeholders and ensure enough PPE supply

CORONAVIRUS | The government should keep up its engagement with industry players to ensure frontliners are well equipped with necessities in their war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The call was made by civil society organisation Malaysian Academic Movement (Gerak) in response to Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah's statement yesterday that the current supply of PPE is only enough to last for at least two weeks.

"This government must immediately engage with the relevant industry parties and direct them at this time of national crisis and in the name of national security to produce and supply all such essential materials as needed by our healthcare frontliners throughout the country," said the group in a statement.

Through the engagement, Gerak proposed for the government to convince local suppliers and producers to adjust their production lines to meet the safety needs of health frontliners.

"Industries that produce raw materials needed for the production of PPE, reagents and disinfectants must be similarly engaged in a coordinated manner by the government.

"And, of course, these companies must be paid by the government for their products so that production will be sustained," said Gerak.

"Volunteerism and charity have their limits," they said in noting that various companies, groups and individuals had come forward to donate PPEs and other supplies to assist frontliners on duty since the enforcement of the movement control order.

Overall, Gerak said improved coordination between various ministries and better collaboration between government and industry players in times of national crisis will go a long way towards ensuring a sustainable supply of PPE and other essential items to all healthcare professionals.

At the ministry's Covid-19 press conference yesterday, Noor Hisham said the use of PPEs by frontliners in hospitals has risen by two to 10 times more than normal consumption, as such supply was still needed as it was one of the disposable items used daily.

At the beginning of the outbreak, Noor Hisham said the ministry was receiving donations of ventilators used on Covid-19 patients treated in the ICUs, but the number has increased to 956 units and there is no more need for the item to be donated.

"But not so with the PPE, if NGOs want to donate, please donate to us (ministry). We are still welcoming PPE donations," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

At present, he said the acquisition of the PPE is done via three ways, namely in bulk by central procurement or at the state level and donations from NGOs, while the ministry has a system in place to look into the level of supply at the states, as well as in hospitals nationwide.

He was responding to concerns over a purported shortage of PPEs in hospitals, despite his initial statement last week that the ministry has sufficient supplies for frontliners. - Mkini