Health Minister Says There Is An Adequate Supply Of Protective Equipment

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr. the Hon. Christopher Tufton, says there is an adequate supply of protective equipment in inventory for frontline medical staff.

Healthcare workers rely on personal protective equipment to safeguard themselves and their patients from being infected and infecting others.

“To the extent that there may be cases where persons feel exposed, either because they have not gotten their allocation or otherwise, we probably will need to review and deal with those on a case-by-case basis, but my understanding is that we do have protective equipment in storage,” the Minister said.

Dr. Tufton was responding to questions posed by Opposition Spokesperson on Health, Dr. Morais Guy, following a statement on the coronavirus (COVID-19), in the House of Representatives on March 12.

Globally, there has been an increase in demand for personal protective equipment such as gloves, medical masks, among other supplies, in light COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the Minister said several sensitisation sessions had been held with healthcare workers regarding the virus.

“We have had a number of sensitisation programmes and my information is that private doctors have been included in the training and retraining or sensitisation. If there are some private doctors that are feeling left out, then we would want to correct that,” he added.

The COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).