TEHRAN (Iran News) – Surgeons treating COVID-19 patients have a “terrifying” lack of personal protective equipment that is risking lives, the profession’s leaders warned.

Almost a third (32.5%) of UK surgeons say they do not have access to enough masks, gowns and other clothing to keep them safe, a new survey reveals.

The widespread lack of PPE for frontline staff is “a disgrace”, according to the Royal College of Surgeons of England, which collated the views of 1,978 surgeons and surgical trainees.

“There are often young doctors and nurses, many with kids at home, putting themselves in challenging situations without proper PPE. It’s not acceptable, morally or ethically, that people should put their lives at risk to do their job unless they have adequate PPE,” Sue Hill, the college’s vice-president, told the Observer, the Guardian reported.

The findings come amid a growing row after health secretary Matt Hancock sparked controversy by urging NHS staff not to use any more PPE than is clinically justified. The Royal College of Nursing and the British Medical Association criticized his remarks.

Hill was responding to the college’s survey, which also found:

Up to 70% of surgeons in some parts of the UK have seen shortages of PPE in their hospital in the last month;

Across the UK 41% of surgeons believe there is enough PPE where they work, but 39% of those in Scotland and 36% in the north-west of England report a shortage;

Half of the surgeons doubt they will be able to get a test to tell them if they have COVID-19.

Hill, a vascular surgeon in Wales, said Hancock’s pledge that millions of pieces of PPE are on order mean little to NHS staff, given the heavy usage COVID-19 involves. “When I’m operating I put on a hat, visor, proper ventilating mask, two pairs of gloves and a full-length surgical gown – six pieces of PPE. So does my assistant, two scrub nurses and two anesthetists. That’s 36 pieces of PPE for just one operation.”

One of the surgeons said the lack of masks was scandalous. They and their colleagues were “spoken to” by hospital managers for wearing masks and gloves when visiting patients onwards, even though one coronavirus carrier infected at least six members of staff. Another said: “We’ve been sent to war but with no protective armor.”

Overall, 72% of surgeons believe the UK will not be able to end the three-week-long lockdown until the general public can get tested for COVID-19.