FEMA Diverted Masks From Veterans Hospitals, VA Official Says
The Federal Emergency Management Agency diverted masks from veterans hospitals and into the government’s emergency stockpile, the executive in charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs claimed Saturday.
Health care workers at VA hospitals have for weeks warned of severely inadequate stocks of personal protective equipment. And in an interview with The Washington Post, the VA’s Executive in Charge Richard Stone pointed the finger at FEMA.
The agency, Stone told the Post, had directed vendors with VA orders to instead send equipment to FEMA for the federal stockpile of such supplies.
“I had 5 million masks incoming that disappeared,” Stone told the Post. Some VA hospitals, Stone acknowledged, are now on “austerity levels.”
“The supply system was responding to FEMA,” Stone added. “I couldn’t tell you when my next delivery was coming in.”
FEMA wouldn’t confirm the allegation to the Post. In a statement to TPM, FEMA spokesperson Janet Montesi did not directly address Stone’s allegation, but said that “to date FEMA has coordinated shipments of more than 4.3 million various types of respirator masks, 1 million facial/surgical masks, 1.5 million gloves and 14,000 face shields to VA facilities across the country.”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/fema-diverted-masks-from-veterans-hospitals-va-official-says
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