Dr. Shereef Elnahal, president and chief executive officer of University Hospital in Newark, on May 19 testified before members of the U.S. Senate, in person.
The head of New Jersey’s only public hospital, Elnahal is appearing at the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ hearing, COVID-19 Part II: Evaluating the Medical Supply Chain and Pandemic Response Gaps. He is the only hospital and health care leader on the panel of those offering testimony at this hearing.
The discussion focused on the state of the United States domestic medical supply chain prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and the federal government’s actions to address and mitigate anticipated medical supply shortages during the initial response to the pandemic. In addition, the hearing aimed to identify reforms necessary to strengthen the resilience of the medical supply chain during future public health emergencies.
University Hospital CEO Dr. Shereef Elnahal speaks during Gov. Phil Murphy’s May 9, 2020, press conference at War Memorial in Trenton on the state’s response to COVID-19. – THOMAS COSTELLO, GANNETT
“COVID-19 brought us circumstances that we had never seen before in health care – things we hopefully will never see again,” Elnahal, who previously served as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health, said. “As the number of COVID cases in our emergency rooms and intensive care units multiplied, we found ourselves at risk of running out of supplies for which we’ve never had shortages. This included personal protective equipment for our staff and ventilators for the patients with the most severe cases of COVID-19.”
In his testimony, Elnahal described the crunch for these key medical supplies during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
In 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, University Hospital handled 83,122 emergency department visitors, 15,572 inpatient admissions, and 199,804 outpatient clinic visits. In addition, the hospital continues to serve as the regional collaborator for northern New Jersey to assist the state in managing the pandemic, along with partner Level I Trauma Centers in central and southern New Jersey, at the direction of the New Jersey Department of Health.
Soldiers with the U.S. Army’s Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force 332-1, 332nd Medical Brigade out of Nashville, pass through the COVID-19 assessment entrance at University Hospital on April 14, 2020, during orientation at the hospital. – PFC. CARLOS CUEBAS FANTAUZZI
“Today, we are in the final miles of the pandemic, but our public health crisis isn’t completely over,” Elnahal stated. “The reality is that I am still not convinced that we are prepared for the next pandemic – whether from a vaccine-resistant variant of COVID-19 or a different pathogen altogether. While we are better off now as a result of many initiatives from the Biden administration on supply chain resiliency, there is still much work to do.”
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is chaired by U.S. Sen. Gary Peters a Democrat from Michigan. U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, is the ranking member.
Others testifying at the hearing include Kim Glas, president and CEO of the National Council of Textile Organizations; Dr. Rob Handfield, professor of Supply Chain Management and director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative at North Carolina State University; and Dr. Stephen Schondelmeyer, professor of Pharmaceutical Economics in the College of Pharmacy and co-principal investigator for the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy’s Resilient Drug Supply Project at the University of Minnesota.
