![]() ![]() 1 Exact quantities of available supplies are also unknown, 1 because the NESS lacks an electronic inventory management system and the latest publicly available data are from the 2010 audit. 8 Media reports indicate that Canada’s stockpile still contains many expired supplies. 8 Current stockpile maintenance plans rely on either deployment or disposal of supplies, but many supplies expire before use because deployment occurs only once other stocks are depleted. 5 The problem of expired supplies was raised in the 2010 NESS audit, as some supplies were found to date back to the 1960s. 5 Supplies were stored in 11 warehouses across the country and had been deployed 128 times in the previous 25 years. 5 The SARS pandemic also led to both the Emergency Management Act 6 and the Federal Emergency Response Plan, 7 which outlines that the Government of Canada should lead the coordination of emergency responses to “all hazards.” 6, 7Īs of the latest public NESS audit (2010), the estimated value of all assets was $300 million, annual operations budgets were $4 million and annual warehouse leases were $7.7 million. 5 After the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemic in 2003, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) was established and the NESS assets were transferred from Health Canada to PHAC. 5 The NESS evolved following national and international disasters to more broadly include medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and social services supplies. The NESS was established in 1952 during the Cold War and consisted of a mobile hospital and the social supports needed for a nuclear disaster response. 3, 4 We propose an alternative long-term strategy to maintain Canada’s stockpile that aims to minimize waste and ensure adequate supply, based on consideration of other countries’ pandemic responses and stockpile audits. 2 Management of emergency stockpiling has proven challenging for Canada and other countries, including the United States and Australia, particularly regarding stock expiration and financial waste. 1 Government officials and health care organizations are also trying urgently to secure new stock to address widespread shortages. Recent media reports identified that millions of personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies in Canada’s National Emergency Stockpile System (NESS) have expired and gone to waste. The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has put the spotlight on problems with the personal protective equipment supply chain in Canada and elsewhere.Ĭanada’s National Emergency Stockpile System (NESS) was last audited in 2010 a problem with expired supplies was noted then and persists to this day.Įmergency supply stockpiles are expensive to maintain, and management of expired supplies generates substantial financial and material waste.Ī better approach may be to integrate the NESS with the commercial supply through a “prime vendor” that could minimize financial and material waste by selling supplies to health care organizations this would continually refresh the stockpile, ensuring an adequate unexpired emergency supply, and provide much-needed supply and demand data for emergency responses. ![]()
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