Corrupt practices around medical safety gear for COVID-19 health workers is tantamount to “murder”, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
A clearly angry Ghebreyesus said that corruption which deprives health workers of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) threatened not only their lives but also the lives of their patients suffering from the novel coronavirus.
The WHO director-general was responding to a question about graft in South Africa, which is reeling from coronavirus-linked corruption scandals that have battered President Cyril Ramaphosa’s credibility and the country’s image abroad.
“Any type of corruption is unacceptable. However, corruption related to PPE… for me it’s actually murder. Because if health workers work without PPE, we’re risking their lives. And that also risks the lives of the people they serve. So it’s criminal and it’s murder and it has to stop.”
Anger grew when some hospitals found that state purchases of masks, gowns and other PPE were not reaching staff. The Special Investigating Unit is investigating more than 160 companies to check the legitimacy of coronavirus-related equipment and services provided.
The government has promised to publish all contracts for protective gear for health workers.