Defective Masks In Belgium (Coronavirus)

[Carl]

Taken from the RTVE live feed:

The Belgian region of Flanders has received 100,000 defective masks from Colombia, packed with cereals and bananas and contaminated with animal excrement, which the authorities have decided not to use to equip health personnel. "It turned out that they did not come from China, as they said, but from Colombia. They were packed in boxes of used bananas and corn cereals, which is the opposite of regulations. In one box, we found animal droppings," explained the director of the Antwerp RevArte hospital, Ludo Splingaer, which has not disclosed the name of the selling company (Source: Efe).

[Graham Knight]

That's horrendous Admin.
More likely to do more harm , than good .

[Carl]

On the face of it it looks like that the Belgium Government were misled/lied to by their supplier about the origin of the masks.

I guess with the demand worldwide for this type of equipment, and pressure from health workers and the public to provide it to those that need it, governments are more likely to part with money more quickly than usual if they find a new source of supply and not necessarily carrying out full due diligence first as time is of the essence.

Spain experienced a similar problem when it bought a large number of rapid test kits from a company in China, they were found to be defective and that the company did not have a medical production licence from the Chinese Government to produce the kits.

[Francisco]

This is exactly what happens when governments trying to do the right thing get panicked by opponents standing on the sidelines parotting " should have done more!...should have done it quicker!..it is not enough!" etc. etc....

UK and Boris are handling the crisis well...