Healthcare workers have taken to social media to issue a plea for protective clothing as they fight the coronavirus. 

The HSE admitted yesterday that that its stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers are “low”, and last weekend a report in the Sunday Business Post revealed that Dr Dónal O’Hanlon wrote to the Minister on behalf of the Irish Hospitals Consultants Association warning that stocks of protective equipment stocks were “running out” in some locations, “leaving frontline staff and their patients in extremely exposed positions”.

This video from St James’s Hospital is an urgent plea for protective clothing is being shared on Twitter.

“We need personal protective equipment – masks, gowns, gloves. If you work in the pharma or food industry and have personal protective equipment, we need them. I guarantee they’ll be used by frontline staff”  Dr Anne-Marie McLaughlin, a respiratory consultant in the hospital  is seen asking.

 

Dr McLaughlin asked people to contact [email protected] if they had PPE supplies.

Others were also seeking to source PPE for frontline staff on social media.

“ED Doctor friend has asked me to help to bulk source disposable shower caps for frontline staff as part of their personal protective equipment. Their hospital needs a few hundred. Anyone know anyone in hospitality/hotel industry or other who can spare some? ” wrote a management consultant on Twitter.

 

There were positive responses.

 

The proportion of cases involving healthcare workers continues to rise, and now stands at 26 per cent (247 cases).

 

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