Bunnings to the rescue!
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<p>An emergency doctor has said that a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) has led to senior doctors sourcing supplies from hardware store Bunnings.</p>
<p>Dr Stephen Parnis said that the lack of PPE is the “number one concern” for Australian healthcare workers on<span> </span>Q&A<span> </span>on Monday night.</p>
<p>Dr Parnis is an emergency doctor and former Vice President of the Australian Medical Association and is aware of “department directors” going to Bunnings to get PPE for their staff.</p>
<p>He said that others are trying to source the vital equipment from overseas contacts.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr">What is the government doing to supply health workers with ample hand sanitizer and PPE? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/QandA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#QandA</a> <a href="https://t.co/Ykx91yOg0E">pic.twitter.com/Ykx91yOg0E</a></p>
— QandA (@QandA) <a href="https://twitter.com/QandA/status/1247130244361777152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2020</a></blockquote>
<p>“It's probably the number one concern for health workers around the country at the moment,” Dr Parnis said.</p>
<p>Q&A host Hamish MacDonald was shocked and asked Dr Parnis to clarify what he meant.</p>
<p>“Can I clarify? Department heads are going to Bunnings to try and find personal protective equipment,” MacDonald asked.</p>
<p>“I've seen examples of that. Yes,” Dr Parnis said.</p>
<p>General practitioner Dr Vyom Sharma said that the lack of PPE is “affecting the nature and care” being given to patients.</p>
<p>“It’s correct what Steven said, we're very worried about the lack of personal protective equipment and it's been affecting the care we've been offering patients throughout,” Dr Sharma said.</p>
<p>“When the criteria for COVID-19 had been changing gradually through February and March, a huge percentage of my (patients) were overseas students and travellers and tourists.</p>
<p>“And you're rationing masks even then. And there are people coughing and sneezing one day who come from South Korea or Italy and a few day later the criteria changes and it says these people are high risk and you wonder should I have used a mask on them and I would have if I had enough.”</p>
<p>Dr Sharma said that in his own practice, they were rationing out PPE and the number of masks has dwindled to about ten.</p>
<p>“We are trying to save them for when we really need them.”</p>
<p>The stress of the pandemic has resulted in doctors not being able to sleep.</p>
<p>“It's a stressful time for us all … because we're making enormous numbers of changes in our hospitals, but also we've seen what's happened overseas,” he said.</p>
<p>“And that's the sort of scenario that really worries us, the risk of being overwhelmed.”</p>
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