Ottawa lost more than $10M in health equipment after 2024 flood: Report
· Toronto Sun
In an internal memo, the Public Health Agency of Canada said it lost millions in medical equipment in a 2024 flood, the latest in a string of mishaps at the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile , according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
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“Equipment held at a strategic stockpile facility suffered water damage due to an external incident,” said a memo dated Feb. 10. “Equipment damaged included infusion pumps that were undergoing preventive maintenance at the time of the incident and testing equipment such as a test lung and air regulators used in the testing of biomedical equipment.”
Two incidents, more than $29 million lost
The memo said losses stood at $9.76 million, separate from another incident that year when a freezer door that was left open resulted in more than $20 million worth of specialty drugs spoiling. An auditor general investigation into that incident is underway.
“The strategic stockpile is the sole provider for the public of specialized drugs and biological products in preparedness for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear exposures,” said the memo. “These assets are not widely used in Canada’s health-care systems and the potential public health impacts of these types of threats is high, whether it is naturally occurring, accidental or intentional.”
The agency runs 11 warehouses across the country, but the memo didn’t mention if the two incidents happened at the same location.
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Staggering waste
Managers at the agency in a report to a House of Commons health committee last December admitted they wasted $170 million on now-expired medical goods marked for landfills. MPs have previously asked why no one has been fired for such mismanagement.
When asked to estimate the value of expired personal protective equipment — such as masks, gloves, respirators, face shields and medical gowns — being warehoused by the government, the agency wrote, “ These assets were originally procured between 2020 and 2022 at an overall cost of approximately $150.7 million,” a tally that did not include another $20 million for storing expired items marked for disposal.
“In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the agency procured over four billion units of medical countermeasures to support the needs of provinces and territories,” it wrote. “Over two billion units were deployed. The National Emergency Strategic Stockpile continues to actively divest itself of remaining surplus assets.”
Earlier audits faulted the agency for mismanagement that resulted in a shortage of medical supplies at the outbreak of the 2020 COVID pandemic.