Press Release, 6.04.2020

Boris Vishnevsky, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, sent a request to Oleg Ergashev, Vice Governor of St.Petersburg city, as well as Kirill Soloveichik, head of the Committee on Industry and Trade.

Boris Vishnevsky asked the Vice Governor ten questions about provision of personal protection equipment (masks, respirators, protective suits, overalls, aprons, arm ruffles, shoe covers, gloves, goggles, antiseptics and other materials) for residents and medical facilities of the city.

“I get a lot of messages (both from doctors, and from mass media and social networks) that there is not enough personal protection equipment for doctors and nurses in the medical institutions of St. Petersburg. This primarily refers to medical masks and respirators, but not only them: doctors report an insufficient number of other protection equipment, especially that needed during this period. The overwhelming majority of pharmacies in the city, judging by both reports of my correspondents and my personal observations, have no masks at all,” Vishnevsky said.

Boris Vishnevsky also asked the officials what personal protection equipment is needed for medical institutions, what is the their daily need and delivery of these materials to St. Petersburg hospitals, as well as the procedure for the distribution of personal protection equipment, the experience of production and distribution of personal protection equipment in other regions, the situation with purchasing masks abroad for the city, the city’s assistance to drugstore chains in obtaining masks, and whether it is also possible to establish an interactive system to reflect the emerging shortcomings of personal protection equipment, following the example of the Donor Traffic Lights.

In addition, the head of the Yabloko faction sent a request to Kirill Soloveichik, head of the St. Petersburg Committee for Industry and Trade, about the interaction with those who are ready to produce masks and respirators.

It should be noted, that on April 3, doctors of the Pokrovskaya Hospital complained about the lack of personal protective equipment against the coronavirus infection, in particular, respirators and antiplague suits.

Earlier, Boris Vishnevsky called on the St.Petersburg government to provide financial aid and other assistance to those St. Petersburg residents who were most affected by the quarantine; the MP also sent a number of concrete proposals to the Governor, these proposals could make life easier for Petersburg residents during the quarantine caused by COVID-19.