Crack down on profiteers who cut corners on PPE
The scandal involving politically connected individuals scoring huge contracts to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) demonstrated that even in a time of national crisis, of life and death, illicit gains trump all other considerations. To add to that scandal comes news of faulty PPE being supplied, which can only worsen the health outlook for many South Africans who put their trust in face-covering to keep them and others safe from the Covid-19 scourge. Today, we report that four companies are being investigated for allegedly supplying substandard equipment, intended to be used by health-care workers serving bravely on the frontlines of the battle against the silent killer.
And it now appears that up to 60% of the medical-grade masks that were recently tested by the South African Bureau of Standards did not make the grade. The SABS was commissioned to do the study by Business for SA, which is part of an initiative to procure masks for the health sector.
“Non-compliant masks are harmful to the wearer as they might allow for particle penetration, might be made of material that irritates the skin and might have a higher than acceptable breathing resistance,” said SABS lead administrator Jodi Scholtz.
According to government figures, 240 medical workers have died of Covid-19 — 37 from the private sector and 203 from government hospitals. Trade unions, in particular the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union, have blamed poor-quality and faulty PPE for deaths among their members.
Fortunately, the SABS testing ensured that defective equipment was discarded, but what of the equipment that may not have been subjected to rigorous testing? There are also warnings that many of the cloth masks being used — sometimes apparently as no more than a fashion accessory — are not medically useful either.
One hopes that the authorities will continue to take prompt action to protect our health-care workers, and that those companies responsible for producing dodgy equipment will be taken to task along with the other PPE cheats.