Health DG: PPE supply can only last for another two weeks

KUALA LUMPUR (April 13): The Ministry of Health (MoH) currently has enough supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers who are in contact with Covid-19 patients to last for at least another two weeks, according to its director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Noor Hisham also highlighted that the usage of PPE among hospitals across the nation right now has risen by two to 10 times more than normal consumption.

As such, he said that the ministry has been consistently procuring more supply of PPE and distributing them to the respective states and hospitals that are in need of the equipment. 

"In terms of stock inspections, we now have a system that can look into the level of supply at the state level, as well as in hospitals," Noor Hisham told the media during his daily Covid-19 national situation update today. 

Besides receiving stocks that were ordered by the government, he said the ministry has also been receiving PPE from non-government organisations (NGO).

He thanked the Good Samaritans for donating the PPE, and clarified that the ministry is still welcoming further donations for frontliners. 

"Because the items are consumables, we use PPE every day almost 10 times more than usual. So what is important is that we have to continue to procure the PPE whether by central procurement or at state level. And if NGOs want to donate, please donate PPEs to us (ministry). We are still welcoming more [donations of] PPEs," he added. 

Earlier this month, Noor Hisham mentioned that the ministry had managed to solve the shortage of PPE and that supplies for frontliners were sufficient. 

However, he noted that there were logistical challenges in distributing them to hospitals that need them the most, especially those in Sabah and Sarawak.

On March 23, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the federal government had agreed to provide RM600 million in additional allocation to the Health Ministry in its efforts to prevent Covid-19 from further escalating in the country.

Of the total, RM500 million were to be used to purchase medical equipment, such as ventilators, essential intensive care unit (ICU) equipment, extra PPE for general medical staff and laboratory equipment for the screening of Covid-19.

The remaining RM100 million has been set aside for the MoH to appoint 2,000 new staff on a contract basis, especially nurses, to help the fight against Covid-19.

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