[ad_1]
New Zealanders have run out of masks and protective gear because shipments of the products were shipped to China, it is claimed.
Despite government assurances that there are sufficient stocks, the shortage of masks and other protective equipment has been reported across the country by buyers seeking to buy them and health workers seeking additional protection.
In March, the executive director of the New Zealand Dental Association, Dr. David Crum, said Things He had four to six weeks of surgical masks left.
A major supplier in this country said it was struggling to keep up with demand because manufacturers’ delivery to China had been severely disrupted.
READ MORE:
* Coronavirus: 41 million additional face masks for healthcare workers
* Coronavirus: mother of disabled child wants PPE for care workers
* Coronavirus: new supply chains will be established for the demand for PPE
* * Coronavirus: Should we all wear masks?
Hutt Hospital staff said they were given masks with crumbled rubber bands.
Professor Anne-Marie Brady of Canterbury University said the shortage had been exacerbated by the masks and other equipment shipped by thousands from New Zealand to China by Chinese organizations based here.
ORE HUIYING / GETTY IMAGES
Some New Zealand shoppers have had a hard time buying face masks.
“While the New Zealand Ministry of Health has a stock of masks and other PPE that they say is sufficient for our hospitals, ordinary New Zealanders and non-health workers have lost access to the masks that are normally available in our pharmacies and hardware stores, because our public supplies were bought in bulk and shipped to China in an effort organized by the Chinese Communist Party government power groups, as well as by speculators who now sell masks of New Zealand origin on Taobao, and also by some people who wanted to support family and friends in China.
“The government’s reluctance to endorse the use of public masks in New Zealand reflects that health officials knew that none were available for purchase in New Zealand and that this had been the case since the end of January 2020. We are now being told that we make cloth masks, but we should not have this shortage if the government had restricted the export of medical equipment and limited the amount of masks an individual could buy, as Taiwan did. “
Eden Ventures, backed by Icehouse, shipped 960 medical gowns, 12,400 medical gloves, and 100 pairs of goggles from Auckland-based Amtech to China in early March.
That followed an earlier shipment of face masks donated by Dawei Duan, chief financial officer of iFLYTEK, an investor and close associate of Eden Ventures in January, before a second shipment of medical gowns was shipped directly to a hospital in Wuhan that was operating critically low levels of supply.
ANNAH STRETTON / SUPPLIED
Annah Stretton is a New Zealand company that has redesigned its manufacturing plant to support local production of face masks.
Eden Ventures founder Jason Wang said that was when the problem mainly occurred in China and that front-line medical staff was struggling.
“The logic was if the virus is a fight for all humanity, and if we supported China to fight, we would not face it ourselves in New Zealand. Unfortunately, it has now become a global pandemic.”
He said the masks were obtained from a contact abroad.
A spokesperson for the Health Ministry said there was no shortage of masks.
“Providing and obtaining the proper PPE remains a high priority for the Ministry of Health. We have more PPE arriving during April, and we are strengthening processes to ensure it reaches the right places. Responsible use of PPE according to the Ministry of Health The health guidelines, which are available on our website, will mean that we have enough now and throughout the response.In addition to the additional PPE, which will arrive this month, it is important to remember that local production of facial masks continues.
“We currently do not recommend making cloth face masks”
Law leader David Seymour said the government needed to “clarify” the PPE.
“[Reports of a shortage] clearly indicates that there is a problem with raw materials, manufacturing or logistics. But David Clark and Ashley Bloomfield also tell us that the Ministry of Health has enough stocks of PPE ready to be used.
“Either we are swimming in PPE, as the Minister and the Director General keep telling us, or the front line health workers cannot get it, as they keep telling us. Both stories cannot be true.
“Clearly, the problem is that the ministry and district health boards are not doing a competent job of getting existing PPE to frontline health workers.”
ManufacturingNZ executive director Catherine Beard said there was significant EPP manufacturing capacity in this country. A record for manufacturers that can produce PPE had 184 entries on Thursday.
