The use of protective visor increased by 13,000 percent in Stockholm during the spring

In the spring, there was a rapid acute shortage of protective equipment in the severely virus-affected Stockholm. The stock that would last for one month ended in four days.

- With fact in hand, Sweden as a country should have been better prepared. There should have been national stocks of protective equipment that could be distributed directly to the regions. In the same way, we should have had much larger stock in the Stockholm region, says Stockholm's Financial Region Council Iréne Svenonius (M).

New figures that Region Stockholm has produced show how much the use of protective equipment increased during the spring. For example, visor consumption increased by more than 13,000 percent and both respiratory protection and long-arm aprons by more than 2,600 percent.

According to Svenonius, the Stockholm region has worked hard during the spring to obtain sufficient protective equipment. She now guarantees that the warehouse will suffice if Sweden is hit by a new wave of infection this fall.

But for many of Sweden's municipalities and regions, which are responsible for the protective equipment in elderly care and healthcare, it has been difficult to manage the needs during the pandemic. From mid-March, therefore, the National Board of Health and Welfare has been assigned the task of securing the supply of protective equipment nationally and supporting with emergency measures. But according to Svenonius, the National Board of Health and Welfare's tasks have not been sufficient. In the future, therefore, even clearer national st "Must create national coordination" is needed and cooperation.

- We must work together as a country. I would like to see that the 21 regions and the national level could find solutions for emergency stocks in the long term, says Svenonius.

Even in the hard-hit Västra Götaland region, the chairman of the regional board Johnny Magnusson (M) wants to see clearer national management of protective equipment consisting of both clear central planning and division of responsibilities.