Coronavirus: N-95 mask shortage in T&T
(Trinidad Guardian) There is a shortage of N-95 masks in the country, which puts doctors at risk should there be an outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
Confirming the shortage yesterday was Pharmacy Board of T&T president Andrew Rahaman, who told Guardian Media, “it looks like the country does not have”.
Guardian Media contacted one of the main distributors of the mask locally, 3M. However, no response was given as to the status of their product stock in the country or when they would be receiving more. Guardian Media, however, understands they are out of stock.
Calls to several pharmacies and hardwares around the country were also placed to find out if they had any in stock. Most companies said they were out while one hardware indicated they still had. Those without indicated they had been out of stock since the COVID-19 first gathered global attention in January. They attributed this shortage to increased public demand as well as issues in their supply due to the ongoing global supply issues brought on by the increased demand from the virus’ penetration into more countries.
However, this shortage now compromises the country’s ability to cope with an outbreak should it reach T&T. This is because a shortage means healthcare workers treating with patients would not be able to adequately protect themselves from the virus. General practitioners (GPs) are expected to be the hardest hit by this issue since they will deal with the majority of public cases as frontline responders to viral infections.“The GPs are the first line of defence. GP’s and primary care practitioners—those are the gatekeepers into the healthcare system and these are the people who the patients first interact with, whether it’s in the private sector...or in the public health sector at the local health centre,” T&T Medical Association public relations officer Mohammed Rahman told Guardian Media in an interview yesterday.