€600m worth of PPE remained unused by the end of 2020

The HSE will appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday morning. Picture: Pexels

Personal protective equipment purchased for about €600m by the HSE at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic remained unused and in storage at the end of 2020.

The figure is contained in a note from the Comptroller and Auditor General to the Public Accounts Committee ahead of the HSE’s appearance, to discuss pandemic spending and issues regarding non-compliant procurement, on Thursday morning.

Seamus McCarthy, the C&AG, will also tell the committee the HSE has written off €374m in PPE bought during the pandemic – made up of €64m worth of disposable protective suits which have exceeded their shelf life, and a further €310m to reflect the change in unit prices between when the PPE was purchased and the end of 2020.

He has suggested the prepayment of €81m to 10 suppliers previously unknown to the HSE to procure ventilators from China in March 2020 represented “non-effective expenditure”, given that 1,729 machines were never received despite having been paid for.

“My office is continuing to examine the circumstances surrounding the prepayments and the related attempts at procurement of ventilators,” Mr McCarthy said. 

“Depending on the outcome of that examination, I may report further on this matter in due course.”

Meanwhile, it has emerged that 365 of the 465 ventilators which did arrive from China at the beginning of the pandemic have since been donated to India, where the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage.

A HSE briefing paper on the Chinese ventilator procurement states the remaining 100 ventilators remain in quarantine “due to quality-related issues”.

The HSE has since retained legal firm Philip Lee to pursue €32.5m in refunds relating to ventilators which were for the most part never delivered, €11.6m of which “is anticipated to be repaid imminently”, it said.