Some health care workers have expressed concerns over new Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) procedural masks.

Jitendra Prasad, Chief Program Officer, Contracting, Procurement and Supply Management with Alberta Health Services, says while the province has an adequate supply of PPE, this is an extraordinary situation. Prasad says prior to the pandemic, Alberta's health care system would typically utilize 200,000 masks per week. However, right now they are going through about 600,000 per day so they needed to look for alternate sources for supply.

He explains some of the issues that have been brought forward in regards to new procedural masks.

"These were masks that were brought in from two different manufacturers," says Prasad. "We have heard from our front line teams that they are concerned about the fit, and in particular that the nose pieces from one of the brands is uncomfortable and doesn't fit like it should."

Another issue that has been raised regards the smell of the mask and some workers have complained about skin irritation and rashes.

"When these masks are manufactured and they come off the production cycle, they are actually quite hot," Prasad explains. "From trying to prevent contamination of these masks, they are immediately put in plastic packaging, and what that does is it actually seals the heat and the smell of the masks within that packaging."

In order to address the issue of the odor, Prasad says he is asking staff to take masks out of the wrapping and put them in boxes to air out. He says alternative masks are also available for health care workers to use.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro assures that the masks are safe. "The masks sourced from China are safe for use in Alberta and all other provinces. All of our PPE meets the required safety standards and all products are tested prior to being ordered, and then are inspected again before they are supplied by AHS to our sites."

Prasad says he appreciates that there are concerns and says they have been heard and noted. He thanked health care staff for raising the concerns and says he's committed to working with staff to resolve the issues on an ongoing basis. He says AHS will work with the manufacturers to improve the masks, fix the nose clips, and increase the size of the masks so they fit better.

"I think this is a great opportunity for us to work with these new manufacturers and together improve these masks for the future so that we are never, ever dependent on only one manufacturer of products in this province when similar events occur or when we need to scale our volume," says Prasad.