Compiled by MARTIN CARVALHO, ALLISON LAI and R. ARAVINTHAN

       A TOTAL of 54 powered air-purifying respirators (PAPR) bound for Malaysia as a donation from a Taiwanese television host and model is stuck in Taiwan’s airport cargo area.

       This is because the country of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) does not allow the medical devices to be exported cross-country, even for charity purposes, reported Oriental Daily.

       Revealing the turn of events, Jia Yong Jie (pic), who has been actively involved in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic by raising funds and donating medical equipment to hospitals in Taiwan, said she was disappointed but also understood and accepted the decision.

       “The devices were at the airport cargo and ready to be flown to Malaysia when I received the call informing me that according to the OEM’s country Ger-many’s Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control, PAPR is not allowed for cross- country export, not even for donation.

       “If I insist, the company’s branch in Taiwan may lose its licence,” she said in a Facebook post, adding that the branch also apologised.

       It is learnt that the German federal agency is authorised to make the final decision on whether German goods are permitted to be exported.

       Jia said she wanted to help after coming across Malaysian rapper/director Namewee’s video showing public hospitals in need of medical equipment earlier.

       “The equipment needed was similar to what I was gathering for hospitals in Taiwan. So I was hopeful that I could help.”

       The 54 PAPR devices cost over NT$1.5 mil (RM230,000).

       Jia said she would not give up.

       > Sin Chew Daily reported that a doctor from Hospital Kuala Lumpur has taken to Twitter to share the dire consequences of misinformation involving a mother who gave her daughter Ivermectin.

       “Yesterday I met a young patient with a sore throat, rashes and shortness of breath after consuming Ivermectin.

       “When I asked her where she got the medicine, she said her mum bought it. And she didn’t have any symptoms before,” wrote Dr Shazwan Sazali, who is based at the hospital’s Emergency Department.

       When asked, the patient, who came alone, said her mother asked her to take the drug as a Covid-19 prophylactic. Dr Shazwan then said he asked the patient to call her mother.

       “I want her mum to know, this is the consequence of doing something based on rumours, not based on evidence.

       “Ivermectin has not been proven to treat Covid-19 and definitely it’s not a prophylactic for the disease.

       “Luckily she only took one or two pills. But what if she had consumed more? Liver damage? Then what’s her mum going to do about it?” he said, pleading for all not to “congest the hospital unnecessarily”.

       The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.