The Government needs to make a major change to how it sources its personal protective equipment (PPE), according to a supplier.
Health Minister David Clark yesterday announced another $150 million in funding for PPE - which includes items like gloves, masks and gowns - to help protect health workers and people returning to the country from overseas anid the Covid-19 pandemic.
While the Government is unable to force returnees to wear masks on flights, they must now wear them en route to isolation facilities and in common areas, with hefty fines and imprisonment for those who fail to comply.
Eagle Protect founder and CEO Steve Ardagh, based in California, says the Government's model must change, however.
"As we move into the new normal - because the old one obviously wasn't working - we just have to look at the way of doing business, and I think it needs to be more collaborative rather than adversarial as it is now," Mr Ardagh said.
It comes two weeks after the Auditor-General released a damning report revealing the Health Ministry was unaware of what PPE they had or its location at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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