Province issues alert about potential counterfeit N95 masks
Health care facilities have been told to check their inventory of N95 masks
A warning from the Ontario government on Friday about potential counterfeit N95 masks that were sent to frontline health care workers. The health ministry said it’s investigating how the respirators slipped through detection.
“We have launched a thorough investigation as we work with our health system partners to ensure that these masks are no longer used by anyone and are removed from the system,” said Alexandra Hilkene in a news release.
In the statement, the health ministry told hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities to check their ‘3M manufactured’ N95 masks citing specific model numbers.
Penny Wise, the president of 3M Canada, said the company has received reports of fraud related to its product from across the country, and added the firm recently helped Ontario and other provincial authorities confirm that N95 masks purchased from a distributor with no relation to the company are fake.
The Ford government did not say who it had purchased the fake respirators from.
3M is telling anyone buying N95 masks to buy only from authorized distributors.
