Brandon Lewis gives "great credit" to NHS teams over faulty Turkish PPE
7 May 2020, 08:32 | Updated: 7 May 2020, 09:35
Brandon Lewis "gives credit" to NHS teams over faulty Turkish PPE
A government minister told LBC that it is a "great credit" to the NHS that the faulty protective gowns shipped from Turkey have not made their way to front line staff.
Authorities have impounded 400,000 gowns from Turkey after they were found not to be up to British standards.
Nick Ferrari asked Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis who was to blame for the emergency shipment of coronavirus PPE being of no use.
Mr Lewis responded: "I taken it from a different premise in which is actually I give great credit to the teams at the NHS and the experts who have reviewed that and taken the view that it's not of good enough quality for our frontline staff.
"We're not prepared to have equipment that's not of good enough quality going to our front line staff.
"So I think it's absolutely right."
Nick clarified: "You're telling me that the fact that 400,000 medical gowns are now impounded in a warehouse in Heathrow because they are utterly useless is actually to our credit?"
READ MORE: 400,000 gowns from Turkey fail to meet UK standards
Mr Lewis thought and then said: "I think that's not quite an interpretation I would take of what I was saying.
"My point is, we are not going to have equipment for our front line staff... the experts have taken a view that the equipment is not good enough and we're not going to issue it to our front line staff."
Watch the interview at the top of the page.
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