The Department of Health has admitted to an MPs’ committee that it is planning to dispose of mountains of unusable medical equipment by burning over 500 lorryloads of it a month.
Ministers wasted £8.7 billion on inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic – with vast quantities of shields, gowns, and other items not meeting basic medical standards. Many were bought under the so-called “fast-track” lane where companies with links to Tory ministers were handed lucrative contracts with limited checks.
Now in a parliamentary committee hearing on Monday, Department of Health chiefs said they were planning to dispose of 15,000 pallets of equipment a month by burning it as fuel to generate electricity. The monthly 576 lorryloads destined for the incinerator will gradually chip away at the 5.5 billion pieces of useless equipment currently sitting in stockpiles.
Full story in The Independent, 8 March 2022
