MINSK, 13 April (BelTA) - Belarusian hospitals have a five-day supply of personal protective gear for doctors amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Belarus' Deputy Healthcare Minister Yelena Bogdan said in an interview with the STV channel on 12 April, BelTA has learned.
"All of our healthcare facilities have a five-day supply of personal protective equipment," said Yelena Bogdan.
“It is primarily hospitals," she said. “Now we are supplying outpatient departments and polyclinics given that we are thinking of refocusing them to work with first-level contacts and, perhaps, with patients with asymptomatic, mild forms, if we make such a decision,” she added.
The deputy minister recalled that during the press briefing on 11 April, the WHO representative hailed the important experience of Belarus, which the organization will recommend to other countries “as our country has been able to convert the manufacturing at many enterprises to produce personal protective equipment for healthcare workers,” she said.
A total of 301 medics contracted the infection in Belarus. “Even one healthcare worker is a lot for the system. Of these 301 patients some have already recovered and have already returned to work,” Yelena Bogdan said and thanked all the doctors for their work.
"The most important thing is that we continue training and education of our medical personnel - first of all, how to put on and take off personal protective gear – in order to keep each person safe," the deputy minister said.
