Corruption Over PPE Is “Murder,” Says W.H.O. Chief

• World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said corruption over personal protective equipment needed by health care workers is plain “murder.”
• The official made the statement following controversial corruption issues in South Africa.
• It’s “unacceptable” and “it has to stop,” according to Ghebreyesus.

Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called graft over personal protective equipment (PPE) “unacceptable” and said that it’s “murder.”

In a virtual press conference held last August 21 in Geneva, World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called out the corrupt practices involving personal protective equipment for health care workers across the world.

Ghebreyesus did not mince with his words and bluntly said all types of corruption are “unacceptable” but added “corruption related to PPE, lifesaving, for me, it’s actually murder.”

The WHO chief further went on:

“If health care workers work without PPE, we are risking their lives, and that also risks the lives of the people they serve. So, it is criminal, and it’s a murder, and it has to stop if it is happening anywhere.”

Ghebreyesus made the comment following protests in Nairobi, Kenya where there are ongoing controversies about corruption amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

A Newsweek report also tells us about a case in South Africa where the government hoarded and sold food donations meant for families without income during the lockdown. Moreover, several hospitals have also reported having inadequate supplies of medical safety gear such as face masks, gowns and PPEs for their medical workers from the state.

In the same conference, Ghebreyesus likewise pointed out that that he thinks the coronavirus pandemic could end in a shorter time compared with the Spanish Flu – which ravaged the world from February 1918 to April 2020.

“In our situation now with more technology and of course with more connectiveness, the virus has a better chance of spreading, move more fast because we are connected now,” commented Ghebreyesus. “But at the same time, we have also the technology to stop it and the knowledge to stop it.”

“So we hope to finish this pandemic before, less than two years,” he said.