COVID-19: Third stock of PPE dispatched for Sindh hospitals

ISLAMABAD: Federal government on Tuesday dispatched a huge stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) for Sindh hospitals, making it the third batch of health supplies provided to country-wide hospitals for medics to avoid COVID-19, ARY NEWS reported.

According to the details of the material dispatched today, the Sindh hospitals would get 345,100 masks other than 9,627 N-95 masks.

It also included 69,299 protective suit, 15,777 gowns, 49,578 surgical caps, 31,614 hand gloves, 4,038 protective glass, 37674 shoe covers and 1,521 face shields.

The equipment also contained body bags, safety boxes, sanitizers, methanol and hand wash.

It is pertinent to mention here that PPE were earlier dispatched to hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir.

The protective equipment would also be provided to Punjab hospitals in another consignment to be dispatched tonight.

On April 09, Adviser to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza advised against excessive use of personal protective equipment (PPE) at hospitals saying that it was only meant for medics treating COVID-19 patients.

Addressing a presser, he said that provision of the PPE to front line health workers was ongoing and the material should be used as per the guidelines.

“Excessive use of the material is being observed,” he said adding that the guidelines provided to hospitals outline the details of professionals allowed to use the equipment.

He said that they were adopting a systematic procedure to avoid shortage of the equipment. “We have already dispatched the equipment needed for a week to the 152 hospitals designated to treat coronavirus patients across the country,” Zafar Mirza said.

The special assistant said that a central database of the testing kits was also being established in order to ensure proper supply of it across the country. “We will be supplying testing kits to 400 hospitals,” he said.