No ‘ill will’ in body bags shipped to northern reserves: report
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/10/2009 (6202 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA – The body bags shipped to northern Manitoba reserves last month were ordered by nurses on the ground in the communities in response to a directive from Health Canada to prepare for a fall outbreak of H1N1 influenza.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq released the report from the investigation into the body bags incident this morning in Ottawa. She said there was nothing untoward in the decision and there was no “ill will” on the part of Health Canada workers.
The investigation found ensuring nursing stations on northern reserves were well stocked for a second-wave of H1N1 influenza “became a preoccupation” of the Health Canada regional offices in Manitoba.
Concerns for the severity of the outbreak in the spring and the difficulty getting supplies north in May and June, led the department to direct all nurses in charge on reserves to order enough medical and pharmaceutical supplies to last for three to four months.
Usually supplies are ordered for six weeks.
“The repeated message given to nurses from senior levels down was to ‘order big,’” the report said.
The directive was to “err” on the side of ordering too much rather than too little.
In total five nursing stations on northern reserves in Manitoba ordered body bags but only one reserve actually received any.
Wasagamack First Nation ordered 100 body bags, which the report acknowledges was far more than necessary. Only 38 bags were sent to Wasagamack. The rest of their request and the requests for the other four reserves, were on back order and were never shipped.
The Manitoba region will now review all orders for body bags before they are shipped, the report says.
mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca