At the same time Ireland hears about the serious risk of the Delta variant, with the Irish government prolonging various covid-19 restrictions, we are apparently giving away heaps of our life-saving equipment in the form of donations abroad.
Yesterday the Irish state loaded up a plane in Shannon Airport with copious amounts of vital medical equipment and PPE headed for Nepal, responding to an EU-wide call for international aid in May.
Ireland today sent support to Nepal to help battle a serious Covid-19 surge. The shipment includes:
42 ventilators
50 defibrillators
1,126 oxygen regulators
99,750 protective coveralls
201,600 face shields
1,008,000 surgical masks🇮🇪🤝🇳🇵
Details: https://t.co/au1g31jiUf pic.twitter.com/A4s9bleRof
— Irish Aid (@Irish_Aid) June 16, 2021
The flight contained a donation of 72 oxygen concentrators, 42 ventilators, 12 bipap machines, 400 oximeters, 50 respiratory monitors, 50 defibrillators, 100 thermometers, and 1,126 oxygen and air regulators. As regards PPE, the donation included 99,750 protective coveralls, 201,600 face shields, and over 1 million medical-grade surgical masks.
The donations were made by the HSE, the Irish Red Cross, and other medical organisations based in Ireland.
Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, said that he is “grateful to all those who have worked together to make this life-saving donation happen.”
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, said “The Irish Aid programme, managed in my Department, is supporting the delivery costs of the donation,” adding that Irish Aid has donated €100 million to fighting covid-19 abroad just this year of 2021 alone.
Now, let’s put aside the fact that since their call for assistance in May, the case numbers in Nepal have plummeted and continue to decline rapidly. To send help now seems a little bit late and redundant – but regardless, that’s neither here nor there.
https://twitter.com/Ben_Scallan/status/1405458851986653185
The point is, we all remember the absolutely ferocious competition over medical equipment last year, with countries like Germany and France even banning exports of the gear to avoid critical supply shortages, in defiance of the EU.
EU fails to persuade France, Germany to lift coronavirus health gear controls https://t.co/7Ph44V407h pic.twitter.com/gLtaagbD2P
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 6, 2020
Everyone was scrambling to get as much PPE and as many ventilators as they could, while bracing for impact from this strange new coronavirus disease.
What is an average cost for ICU ventilator? €30.000, as claimed in Ireland?
Medics raise concerns about staffing levels as HSE stocks up on ventilators https://t.co/6gRFNhxObi
— Miroslav Gregoric (@MGregoric) March 15, 2020
Smash cut to June 2021, and we’re literally giving them away by the planeload to other countries (who probably don’t need them either at this stage).
There are only really two possibilities here: either the pandemic is totally under control for the foreseeable future, and we can comfortably give away our precious gear and still easily manage any potential future waves. Or alternatively, we’re not prepared for future waves, in which case the government is giving away gear they’re going to need domestically in a few months, thereby putting Irish people’s lives at risk. There really isn’t a third option, it’s one or the other. And I’m not sure which is worse.
If it’s the former – that the government know there is virtually zero risk of our health services being overrun by covid-19, which was the initial fear that supposedly justified the first lockdown – then why are we still seeing any restrictions at all?
In fact, they just imposed brand new travel restrictions between Ireland and the UK over concerns with the Delta variant.
Tighter travel restrictions on arrivals from the UK into Ireland take immediate effect https://t.co/7LD2MsLSs5
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) June 15, 2021
Meanwhile, pubs are not fully reopened yet, nor are restaurants. International travel isn’t allowed until July 19th. We won’t have a phased return to offices until August.
How could this possibly be justified? Are we on the verge of a terrifying new wave or aren’t we? And if we are, why are we giving away vital medical gear that we will need to save our own lives in the near future?
Once again we are reminded that any semblance of common sense or rationality left the country to get cigarettes around March 2020, and nobody knows when, if ever, it’ll be back.