The Public Health Agency of Canada lost more than $10 million in medical equipment in a 2024 flood, according to an internal memo obtained by Blacklock's Reporter. The incident is the latest in a string of expensive mishaps at the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile.
Details of the flood damage
According to a memo dated Feb. 10, equipment at a strategic stockpile facility suffered water damage due to an external incident. Damaged items included infusion pumps undergoing preventive maintenance, as well as testing equipment such as a test lung and air regulators used for biomedical equipment testing. Losses were estimated at $9.76 million.
This event follows another incident in 2024 where a freezer door left open caused more than $20 million worth of specialty drugs to spoil. An auditor general investigation into that incident is currently underway.
Impact on public health preparedness
The memo emphasized the importance of the strategic stockpile, stating it is the sole provider of specialized drugs and biological products in Canada for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear exposures. These assets are not widely used in Canada's health-care systems, and the potential public health impacts of such threats are high, whether naturally occurring, accidental, or intentional.
The agency operates 11 warehouses across the country, but the memo did not specify whether the two incidents occurred at the same location.
Broader mismanagement concerns
Managers at the agency admitted to a House of Commons health committee last December that they wasted $170 million on expired medical goods marked for landfills. MPs have questioned why no one has been fired for such mismanagement.
When asked to estimate the value of expired personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, respirators, face shields, and medical gowns being stored, the agency reported that these assets were originally procured between 2020 and 2022 at a cost of approximately $150.7 million. This tally did not include an additional $20 million for storing expired items marked for disposal.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency procured over four billion units of medical countermeasures to support provinces and territories, but only over two billion units were deployed. The National Emergency Strategic Stockpile continues to actively divest itself of remaining surplus assets.
Earlier audits faulted the agency for mismanagement that resulted in a shortage of medical supplies at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
