PPE high priority in $275m health spend
More than $275 million will be spent on bolstering New Zealand’s health response to Covid-19, including a lot more funding for personal protective equipment.
Pharmac will also be getting more money so it can buy essential medicines and close to $30 million will be provided to rest homes “to keep Covid-19 at bay”.
That’s according to Health Minister David Clark, who said the funding would provide immediate support to ensure aged care providers can continue to take the necessary steps to respond to the virus.
The majority of New Zealand’s Covid-19 related deaths have been at rest homes.
But the major item in the spending package is the $200m earmarked for buying more personal protective equipment (PPE).
“Our frontline health staff do incredibly important work caring for New Zealanders. They need and deserve our support,” Clark said.
“A key part of that is keeping health staff safe by providing appropriate personal protective equipment.”
This week, the Government moved to a national distribution system for face masks, with the supply of other PPE items to follow, Clark said.
It already has roughly 20 million masks, 9.4 million pairs of gloves, 1.2 million aprons and other items of PPE in stock.
Some $200m will be spent on new PPE supply — of that, $140m has already been spent on new orders.
Clark said in the next eight weeks, the Government expects 75 million items of PPE to be delivered into New Zealand.
That includes 17 million masks, more than 2 million gowns and coveralls and 13.8 million gloves.
Clark also announced that Pharmac will receive an additional $35m to cover the increased cost of some medicines, and the widening of access to a number of medicines (including nine cancer treatments).
A further $15m will be used to continue the Unite Against Covid-19 information campaign until October.