“While we fight COVID-19, someone is risking our lives”

Surgical masks given to us (by British doctors. -  RT ) last week were to be used until 2017, but on their packages there were stickers with new dates that said that now, for some reason, you can safely use them until 2022 of the year.

It turns out that while we are trying to fight COVID-19, someone is risking our lives.

I myself am one of those who would rather believe that someone somewhere “messed up” strongly rather than conspired. As for me, all sorts of incidents that could have been avoided are most easily explained by the human factor. Everything, as a rule, begins with someone's terrible mistake, and the conspiracy begins only later - in order to protect those who are vested with power from the need to admit their wrong.

However, sometimes a plot becomes the only possible explanation. This is exactly the case last week. On Thursday, people at the National Health Service (NHS) applauded as heroes. And on Friday, our unit - very intentionally - was given protective equipment that expired three years ago. On the packaging it was hidden under a sticker with a new date.

• RT

With personal protective equipment (PPE) everything is very dysfunctional from the very beginning of the coronavirus history. They are either not enough, then their quality is not high enough, or else they are not at all. And in a number of units there have already been attempts to conceal this problem and drown out the voices of whistleblowers.

This seems to be standard practice in the NHS system, as can be judged by recent material from The Independent:

“NHS doctors who have expressed concern about the lack of personal protective equipment have been warned that if they continue to speak openly, they may be left without work. The organization WhistleblowersUK said that more than 100 health workers came to them with concerns about the lack of PPE in the context of the coronavirus crisis. Many of them reported pressure from NHS managers, claiming that they would face disciplinary action for dismissing them publicly. ”

“Those who spoke in public received a reprimand or a warning (especially for temporary consultants) that their contracts after the expiration date may well not be extended and they will remain without work and may not be able to get anywhere else,” - said the head of WhistleblowersUK, Georgina Halford Hall. "

Intimidation by NHS executives is not news in itself, and appears to be the default practice.

More ominous here is that even in the rather early stages of the pandemic, stories spread around the country about the distribution of expired sets of PPE, on which the current expiration date was sealed with a new, fresh sticker. I myself have not seen a single one, but the stories sounded pretty believable.

By the way, I then thought about this: and what, interestingly, should there be a train of thoughts here? “The PPE that we have is overdue for several years. What should we do?" If the decision was mine, I would probably just say something like this: “Guys, I'm sorry, but we did not stock up on enough PPE and are now struggling to make up for their lack. Those kits that we now have are expired. But this is probably better than nothing. We do not think that they could somehow really go bad. Do not you mind?"

What else can I say? The choice was this: either to let everyone go home, or not to use PPE at all. And then they, I think, decided to consult with the legal department, and there they were told: “No, no, telling people that these things are expired is impossible. Claims can then threaten us here. Moreover, if you do not have these means of protection for them, this gives them every right to go home. ”

Thus, the lack of PPE could immediately turn into a personnel crisis.

But what to do if you only have expired personal protective equipment in stock?

And to do, as I thought then, one could do this: agree on a budget to hide the fact that the kits are expired. Then they would have to agree with some company to print hundreds of thousands of stickers with a new expiration date.

This would require a significant amount of money, and also it would be necessary to allocate several days to organize all this.     

Then they would need to hire several hundred people in order to remove all expired PPE from the boxes and very carefully stick a label with a new date printed on top of the old expiration date. After that, all the packages must be folded back and then distributed, without informing anyone at the front line about what happened.

Such actions, of course, do not fall under my category of "schools." It clearly looks like a conspiracy.

An immediate, clear decision was made to hide the fact that expired personal protective equipment was handed over to the National Health Service. And to keep it a secret, it took a lot of time, effort and money.

This can not be called a slip from the category of "Oops, I'm sorry, the error came out."

In general, when I heard that labels with a new expiration date were glued to the PPE, I dismissed this version: “No, well, nobody would have succumbed to such a thing. Or stupid things. " After all, if I had done something like that, I would be instantly excluded from the registry of doctors. And that would be perfectly deserved.

Try to give out a medication overdue for three years by pasting on it a prefabricated label with a different expiration date, and say: “Everything is in order, it does not spoil at all. I would have looked at the court in this case ...

Me: “Yes, your honor, it was just a mistake. I had a hard working day ... "

Judge: “But you knew that the drug was expired. You found a person who printed a sticker with a new expiration date to hide this fact. Then you gave the medicine to the patient. ” (Raises an eyebrow inquiringly.)

Me: "Well, yes, you're right ... Well, I got to work, it is clear ..."

So, imagine how bitterly I was disappointed ... One of the nurses brought a box of surgical masks. She heard about "tricks with a new label" and, carefully peeling it off, she discovered an old shelf life. 2017 year. The same stickers were on all the boxes delivered that day.

I am ready to believe that surgical masks do not really have a critical expiration date. But I certainly don’t know this. Why is Cardinal Health, an American healthcare giant, preoccupied with printing Good before on the packaging if it really doesn't go bad?

In the same way, if we were told: “I'm sorry, but that's all we have,” I would probably shrug my shoulders and put up with it.

However, it is very difficult for me to come to terms with the fact that somewhere someone holding a high managerial position - probably a few such "someone" - made a deliberate attempt to hide the expired shelf life and went to considerable tricks to conceal this fact.

But in fact, to reveal the deception, it took only a sharp nail.

What inscription will flaunt on my tombstone? “Ripped a standing ovation on Thursday. Killed on Friday. "

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the publisher.