The national health department is planning closer scrutiny of provincial stocks of protective medical equipment and will be adding these details to a real-time system already in place for monitoring key medicines, according to acting director-general Anban Pillay.
Pillay attributed hospital-level shortages of protective gear to supply-chain problems within provinces. “It is important to keep a watch on the supplies of the diagnostic kits, because that is where our challenges are going to come from,” he said. “We are aware the whole continent is looking for the same kits. We are in touch with the African CDC [Centres for Disease Control] to look at how we can assist each other,” he said.