Health DG: No shortage of PPE, challenge is in distributing them

PETALING JAYA: There is no shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) but there are logistical challenges in distributing them, says the Health Ministry.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the issue was not the lack of PPE, but how to distribute them to hospitals that need them the most.

“At the moment, we don’t face any shortage in our stock such as masks and PPE.

"However, we face constraints in transporting and distributing them to other states.

“We realise that the use of PPE has increased by two to three times. So, for instance, if a hospital has increased their usage of PPE, we have to figure out as quickly as possible how to distribute the new PPE to them.

“It is more of a logistical and distribution problem,” he said during a press conference in Putrajaya on Wednesday (April 8).

Dr Hisham had said last week that donations of medical gear coming in from China, including 50,000 PPEs and half a million masks, had addressed Malaysia’s shortage of protective gear.