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The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is still looking for someone to help recycle what’s likely thousands of pieces of expired PPE, but now it’s giving a bit more information about why.
Originally, the SHA had said the PPE was provided free of cost by Health Canada as part of the COVID-19 pandemic response. It said some of the equipment it received either didn’t meet the health authority’s standards or was short-dated and expired before it could be used.
When Health Canada was asked about it, the response was that all medical equipment and supplies sourced by the Public Health Agency of Canada is licensed by Health Canada. It said anything that went into the emergency stockpile would have undergone quality verification, and if it didn’t conform to technical specifications equipment, it wouldn’t be cleared to be sent to the provinces.
Health Canada also said the stockpile, as a best practice, doesn’t send out equipment that expires within six months.
Afterward, the SHA then gave a few more details on the PPE.
It said that, because of concerns about shortages during the early months of the pandemic, the SHA sourced even more PPE and then didn’t need to use some of the supplies it got, so some have passed their expiration date.
The SHA also clarified when it talked about equipment that didn’t meet standards, it was referring to medical gowns. It said in a statement that the health authority requires gowns that are at least a Level 2 of protection, according to Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation standards, and so the Level 1 gowns it received couldn’t be used.
Health Canada wouldn’t say how much PPE it sent to Saskatchewan or the cost of it, only saying that the emergency stockpile proactively allocated more than two billion units of medical equipment and supplies to provinces and territories.
In 2023, the SHA also put out a tender to get rid of thousands of litres of expired hand sanitizer from the beginning of the pandemic.