UK: 400,000 Turkish gowns ‘not good enough’ for front-line staff
Al JazeeraAs PPE fails UK standards, Ankara official highlights that medical equipment was from private company, not government. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said on Thursday that the 400,000 medical gowns are not “of the quality that we feel is good enough for our front-line staff” treating coronavirus patients. “However, no part of the Turkish government was involved in producing, packaging or delivering said equipment to the United Kingdom.” The dispute was between the buyer – the UK – and a private company in Turkey, said the official, and was not an “intergovernmental” issue. “There have been no similar problems with PPE that Turkey donated to the United Kingdom, for which the UK government kindly expressed their gratitude at the time,” said the official. The Department of Health said: “This is a global pandemic with many countries procuring PPE, leading to shortages around the world, not just the UK.” The UK this week overtook Italy to become Europe’s worst-hit country in terms of coronavirus-related deaths, as official figures suggested more than 32,000 people had died with the COVID-19 disease.
History of this topic
Inside Britain's deadly, celebrity-inspired craze for Turkish surgery
Daily Mail
Surplus PPE being sent from NI to help with Ukrainian crisis
The Independent
The UK ordered 400,000 gowns from Turkey to address its PPE crisis. Some didn’t meet safety standards
CNN
Coronavirus: PPE supplies from Turkey ‘only enough to last a few hours,’ report says
The Independent
UK: Turkish PPE arrives as data suggests more dying from COVID-19
Al Jazeera
Coronavirus: Hospitals washing gowns at 60C to reuse PPE as stocks run low
The IndependentDiscover Related