Greens question local sourcing of PPE
MLA Trish Altass wants to know why regional supplier passed over by government
Green MLA Trish Altass questioned Health Minister James Aylward Friday about the province’s plans to use local sourcing of personal protective equipment.
During question period, Altass noted that staff members at Prince County Hospital have been instructed to conserve personal protective equipment (PPE), such as N95 masks or surgical masks and questioned Aylward about the use of local suppliers. Personal protective equipment is used by health-care workers treating patients with COVID-19
Aylward had previously said his department was working with local manufacturers to fill local PPE needs.
“We have been told that this government turned down offers from at least two locally based PPE procurement companies early in this pandemic, one of which successfully supplied PPE to both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,” Altass said.
“Did this government refuse to purchase PPE from local procurement companies?”
In response, Aylward said his email inbox was inundated with suppliers of PPE at the beginning of the pandemic.
“Quite a few of them were just popping up as startups,” Aylward said. “We formed a team to review all of the proposals that were coming through. They were all verified, qualified and we were investing in PPE, where we could get it, but also we were ensuring that we were getting it at the best price.”
All Canadian provinces have faced procurement delays in obtaining adequate PPE due to increased demand and supply chain disruptions from the pandemic.
In an interview, Aylward said decisions around PPE purchases have also been based on the quality of the product and the standards set out by Health Canada.
But he said the province had invested in local manufacturers and suppliers for purchases of PPE, such as Top Dog Manufacturing, which has been producing protective gowns, and BioVectra, which has been producing hand sanitizer.
“We did invest locally in the economy anywhere we could,” Aylward said.
One of the companies referred to by Altass was Capital Paper, a Nova Scotia-based supplier. The company supplies janitorial and sanitation supplies.
“I don’t know what product they were offering. They may have been offering paper towel and toilet paper,” Aylward said.
Aylward said Health P.E.I. is monitoring its consumption rate of PPE but is also still working on procurement in the future.
“We certainly are comfortable right now moving forward,” Aylward said.
As of May 26, the province had between a six- and 28week supply of N95 masks, as well as an 11-week supply of
Nitrile gloves, a two- to sevenweek supply of protective gowns and a 12- to 14-week supply of surgical masks.
Altass said Capital Paper was in contact with the province early in the pandemic.
“The response, actually, was that we already had enough PPE, which I think is a confusing response, particularly at the start of the pandemic when we are accepting donations (of PPE]),” she said.
Jeff Zettler, president of Capital Paper, confirmed he was notified that the province was not interested in purchasing supplies from the company on April 16.
The company supplies surgical masks, gloves, face shields and disinfectants to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
“This is a normal process. We reached out, they didn’t seem to need anything at the time,” Zettler said.
“I guess I would say it seemed odd to us that the other provinces needed products and they didn’t.”
Capital Paper heard from the province weeks after April 4, when the province received a large shipment of PPE from the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile. The province received about 10,000 surgical masks, 30,000 face shields, 156,000 pairs of gloves and 100 tubs of disinfectant wipes from this shipment.