As the COVID-19 pandemic surged, the Victorian Government needed to ensure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) could be efficiently distributed to health services in need across the State.
So, the State Supply Chain (SSC) was established in April 2020 and since then, one dedicated Monash Health team has taken carriage of this critical task.
With more than 65 thousand pallets of stock stored in 12 warehouses around Melbourne, our 80-strong team has been meeting the high demand for PPE from across Victoria every single day.
Praised for their reliability and efficiency, they have lifted and shifted gloves, masks, rapid antigen tests, gowns, visors and hand sanitiser to quarantine hotels, vaccination centres, aged care homes and over 80 sites.
The team worked to very tight timeframes moving beds, ventilators and vital supplies in and out of spaces that were set up to care for the critically ill.
And they didn’t stop there. They helped the Department of Health and HealthShare Victoria to ensure wholesalers held a critical reserve of pharmaceutical supplies and, with their guidance, distributed medicines to sites in need across the State.
To give an indication of the scale of their work and commitment – the team distributed a total of 808 million pairs of gloves and 315 million protective masks over the last 26 months. That’s the equivalent of 60 pairs of gloves for every Victorian and enough masks to travel around the state’s border 20 times!
Neil Sigamoney, Director of Engineering and Corporate Services at Monash Health, said:
“I am exceptionally grateful for this team. It has been a monumental effort throughout a very challenging period.
“With the unwavering support of the Executive, critical workforces and patients across Victoria have had access to the vital equipment needed to protect themselves and others. This team can be very proud of what they have achieved and be certain that their actions helped save lives.”
With COVID-19 transmission rates steady, responsibility for the State Supply Chain will transition to HealthShare Victoria next week. This transition has been planned and the distribution of PPE to all health services will now be managed by HSV.
From all at Monash Health, we thank the team for their incredible efforts.