Mbabane: The great demand for the COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) across the world has resulted in suppliers running out of the gears and thus impeding the progress of the preventative initiatives undertaken by governments across the globe.
The Ministry of Health has revealed that as a country they are part of those that are in need of more of the gears and they are counting on suppliers to give a report on their stock.
“We are running out of the PPEs and being disposable we need to add on the pile that we currently have,” said the minister. She said, nonetheless, they are continuing with their duties in providing health care to the infected and are making remarkable progress, lauding the arrival of the 4 Taiwanese doctors who are assisting at the Lubombo Referral Hospital and other regional hospitals.
The minister hastened to say that government has the money with which to buy the equipment but there weren’t any markets.
UK
In the UK, NHS bosses asked doctors and nurses to work without protective full-length gowns when treating Covid-19 patients, as hospitals came within hours of running out of supplies.
The guidance was a reversal of Public Health England (PHE) guidelines stipulating that full-length waterproof surgical gowns, designed to stop coronavirus droplets getting into someone’s mouth or nose, should be worn for all high-risk hospital procedures.
In a significant U-turn, PHE advised frontline staff to wear a flimsy plastic apron with coveralls when gowns ran out, in a move that doctors and nurses fear may lead to more of them contracting the virus and ultimately putting lives at risk. The PHE announcement on Friday evening came shortly after the planned move was revealed by the Guardian.
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