Region 10 authorities probe alleged hoarding of COVID-19 medical supplies

Apr 21, 2020 News

Region 10 authorities and the Ministry of Public Health are now pondering whether to call in the police after finding a large quantity of medical supplies and other critical items stashed in a Wismar hospital backroom.

A portion of the supplies that authorities found stashed in a backroom at Wismar Hospital.

The discovery was made over the weekend after a high-level team journeyed to Region 10 to make spot checks on the preparations for COVID-19.
While this newspaper was unable to make contact with Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, multiple officials from her ministry and the Region 10 administration expressed anger over the situation which had pitted nurses and frontline health workers against government.
Yesterday, Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Collette Adams, would only confirm that a probe has been launched after complaints were filed about the shortage of supplies in Region 10.

Some of the boxes of face masks that were recovered. Nurses said they were limited and even were forced to work without.

She insisted that the ministry was mystified at the claims of shortages, as it had sent truckloads of supplies to the region. She said that more details will be forthcoming.
However, Region 10 officials yesterday afternoon said that the situation was an embarrassing one, with serious implications for the lives of frontline workers.
It was disclosed that Minister Lawrence, the Permanent Secretary and other health ministry staffers went to the Wismar Hospital on Saturday. It was supposed to be a one-day visit but ended up an overnight stay for the minister and her team.
The team was told that nurses and other workers at the hospital were not given protective clothing, and even cleaning liquids and sanitisers were short.
Nurses of the hospital had even gone on Facebook earlier this year to complain of shortages, forcing the government to deny.
On Saturday, somehow the team and other staffers managed to gain access to a backroom that was controlled by a senior official of the institution.
“It was a sight they could not believe. They found a large quantity of bleach and protective clothing, paper towels and toilet papers, and masks,” a regional official disclosed.
In fact, nurses and others were complaining of being limited to sanitisers.
“We found a large quantity of hand sanitisers and other items also.”
“What we do know is that supplies were sent weeks now as part of the COVID-19 fight and it never ended up in the hands of the frontline health workers of Region 10 as it should.”