HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Members of a U.S. Congressional committee want to document problems people and companies had getting personal protective equipment and other critical medical supplies in the first part of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S.
“Fraud, exploitation, and faulty equipment and medical supplies,” are among the specifics that U.S. Senators Gary Peters, D-MI, and Rob Portman, R-OH, are asking for. Peters is the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee. Portman is the committee’s ranking member.
They are calling for health care providers, state and local governments, first responders, and others to share information about vendors, counterfeit medical products, price-gouging, or other challenges obtaining supplies during the response, via an online portal: https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/contact/investigations
The Senators indicated they are looking to to improve bipartisan oversight of the federal pandemic response, and “strengthen U.S. medical supply chains, improve emergency preparedness, highlight new and successful supply chain methods,” as well as “prevent bad actors from taking advantage of future national crises.”
