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Top hospital braces for coronavirus pandemic with secret warehouse full of emergency supplies
05
Mar
Mar
Top hospital braces for coronavirus pandemic with secret warehouse full of emergency supplies
By Didi Martinez, Brenda Breslauer and Stephanie Gosk
On a tree-lined block an hour outside Boston sits a secret warehouse filled with hundreds of boxes labeled “pandemic product.”
The boxes, containing items like IV fluid, gloves and gowns, remain shrink-wrapped in neat rows inside the facility until the day Massachusetts General Hospital orders an emergency infusion of supplies.
With the coronavirus spreading across the U.S., that day may soon be approaching.
“We are trying to hold out as long as we can to tap into that warehouse, because we think there’s a chance we will see sustained transmission in the community,” said Dr. Paul Biddinger, chief of the division of emergency preparedness at Mass General, noting that the facility “takes us through the worst two weeks.”
Calculations like these are being made by health care professionals across the country as hospital systems eye their own supplies in preparation for an influx of patients needing treatment from the coronavirus illness, COVID-19. So far, 18 states have reported more than 100 coronavirus cases, and 11 people have died from the disease in the U.S.
On Wednesday, congressional leaders reached a bipartisan deal to provide nearly $8 billion in emergency funding to fight the disease.
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In the meantime, Mass General is preparing for a surge in patients, as well as potential shortages caused by a disruption in Chinese manufacturing.
“We’ve been looking, since January, at our pharmaceuticals, our other medical supplies, to identify what’s manufactured from China,” Biddinger said. “And look at our contingency strategies for what we have to do if we don’t get as much as we need.”
Shortages of essential medicines had already been an issue for hospitals, and now, with the spread of coronavirus worldwide, Biddinger says, his team has been working to map out what drugs could be affected and whether there are any alternatives.
“Certain drugs don’t have alternatives,” he said. “And when we face a drug shortage of critical medications, that really threatens patient care.”
Health care providers, experts and lawmakers have long noted the risks of a medical supply chain increasingly dependent on China, warning of the lack of alternatives should the country fail to provide products to the U.S. Some experts have even said the country’s dependence on China poses a national security risk.
According to data from the Food and Drug Administration, about 85 percent of manufacturing facilities used to make ingredients for American drugs are overseas — many in China and India. But even India has signaled that it is feeling the effects of a disruption in its supply chain, restricting exports of 26 drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients. The list includes antibiotics and products like paracetamol, a common pain reliever best known in the U.S. as Tylenol.
Even before the coronavirus outbreak began, the fragility of the drug supply chain was apparent. Last year, there was a widespread recall of the blood pressure medication valsartan because of contamination. And most recently, nearly 9.1 million surgical gowns were recalled because of quality concerns.
The conversation took on an elevated sense of urgency late last week, when the FDA issued a news release indicating that a manufacturer had notified it of a drug shortage linked to a site affected by coronavirus. The agency said it has identified about 20 other drugs that could be affected because of their sourcing from China.
