National Emergency Stockpile System

The Public Health Agency of Canada maintains a $300 million National Emergency Stockpile System (NESS) to provide emergency supplies quickly to provinces and territories when requested. A 24-hour response capability is maintained.

The NESS is funded and held by the Agency. The Agency manages the NESS by assessing and refurbishing stockpile units, and distributing medical and pharmaceutical supplies at the request of provinces.

The system consists of a central depot in Ottawa, as well as eight other warehouses and 1,300 pre-positioned supply centres (under the combined management of the provices and federal government) strategically located across Canada.

The NESS contains everything that you would expect to find in a hospital, from beds and blankets to a supply of pharmaceuticals and a range of antibiotics. It includes 165 "field hospitals", or mobile hospitals, with 200 beds in each. These are positioned throughout the country. The units can be deployed on short notice (within 24 hours) to be set up in existing buildings such as schools and community centres.

Additional capacities include supplies to set up first aid and triage stations. Pre-positioned supply centres have a mix of supplies depending on their location and anticipated emergencies that might occur.

While some of the field hospitals are stored across the country, many drugs are held for the Agency by the pharmaceutical manufacturers in order to ensure that they are rotated, thus ensuring we have up-to-date drugs when required.

The National Emergency Stockpile System has been used to support a number of emergencies, both in Canada and internationally. For example, a significant quantity of pharmaceuticals, supplies and equipment were provided as part of Government of Canada';s response to the south east Asia tsunami crisis.