By James Simons-
Fifty million face masks bought by the UK for the National Health Service are to be recalled because the straps aren’t tight enough.
Ayanda Capital supplied the FFP2 respirators as part of a £252 million ($331 million) deal, signed in April, to provide personal protective equipment.
The masks use ear-loop fastenings rather than ties around the head, which may not be tight enough for health workers.
The deal was arranged by Andrew Mills, an adviser to the UK government, who sits on the board of Ayanda Capital. They were purchased the early weeks of the pandemic the NHS experienced severe shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The British government has said that the masks use fastenings around the ears rather than the head. The government recalled the masks after The Good Law Project, a nonprofit legal-rights organization, launched a legal challenge over the government’s PPE contracts. The group published the government’s decision on its website Thursday.
The masks “will not be used in the NHS” because “there was concern as to whether the[y] … provided an adequate fixing,” the UK government said, according to the project.
The campaign group argues the government’s awarding of contracts directly to companies during the pandemic, rather than opening them to competition, may have been unlawful.
“It’s taken this extraordinary sum of public funds and wasted it on PPE that it itself says cannot be released for use in the NHS because it’s not safe,” said Jolyon Maugham, the Good Law Project’s director.
“We do think that it’s important that the court take a look at these contracts, that it declare them to be unlawful and that there be full transparency of how these staggering amounts of public money have been spent.
“It’s taken this extraordinary sum of public funds and wasted it on PPE that it itself says cannot be released for use in the NHS because it’s not safe,” said Jolyon Maugham, the Good Law Project’s director.
“We do think that it’s important that the court take a look at these contracts, that it declare them to be unlawful and that there be full transparency of how these staggering amounts of public money have been spent.
The masks are estimated to be worth between £156 million and £177 million ($205 million and $233 million), the legal-rights group estimated.
In a statement published by the BBC, Ayanda Capital said: “The masks supplied went through a rigorous technical assurance programme and meet all the requirements of the technical specifications which were made available online through the government’s portal.” In a
The masks supplied went through a rigorous technical assurance programme and meet all the requirements of the technical specifications which were made available online through the government’s portal.”
Ayanda Capital also supplied the NHS with 150 million Type IIR masks, but these have not been recalled.
A UK government spokesperson told the BBC: “There is a robust process in place to ensure orders are of high quality and meet strict safety standards, with the necessary due diligence undertaken on all government contracts.”