OTTAWA -- Some doctors from the Queensway Carleton Hospital have put out a plea for donations of personal protective equipment for their medical staff and money as they battle COVID-19 on the front line.

"If you look at these unprecedented times, and the volume of equipment and supplies that we consume, it's so far outside our normal," said anesthesiologist Dr. Sanjay Acharya in an unlisted YouTube video that was sent to CTV News Ottawa. "A crisis like this can easily add $30,000 a week to our operating costs and it can go upwards from there."

Donations to the Queensway Carleton Hospital can be made through the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation.

A spokesperson for the QCH later clarified to CTV News Ottawa that the video was not part of a broad, formal campaign by the Hospital or the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation. The Hospital still welcomes donations.

"We encourage any business or individuals who have supplies – particularly things masks, gloves, gowns, disinfectant wipes, Purell and eye protection – to please donate them," the spokesperson said. "More details are available by contacting local hospitals."

The Queensway Carleton Hospital had briefly opened a drive-thru testing facility for COVID-19, but it was only offered for a single night, to help ease the backlog of people looking for tests before the assessment centre at the Brewer Arena opened.

Hospitals and paramedic services are seeing a shortage in protective equipment as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads throughout Canada.

Renfrew Paramedics issued a call for donations this week.

Some University of Ottawa medical students got together to gather supplies and were able to find more than 2,000 masks and 60,000 pairs of gloves to donate to local hospitals.

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA's The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said the Province has more than five million masks and 12 million gloves on order. He also said several Ontario-based companies are retooling to be able to supply critical items like N95 respirator masks.

Correction:

Several corrections have been made to this article to better reflect the context of the situation described:

1) Neither the Queensway Carleton Hospital, nor the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation has issued a formal plea for donations of medical equipment. 

2) The YouTube video that was referenced has been removed as a courtesy to the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation. It was put together by one of the hospital's doctors independently, but was not part of a formal campaign by the Hospital.

3) Dr. Sanjay Acharya was incorrectly identified as the Queensway Carleton Hospital's Chief of Staff. He is a former chief of staff, but was appearing in the video only in his personal capacity as a doctor. The video's thumbnail preview identified Dr. Acharya as Chief of Staff.

4) While the Hospital welcomes donations, they should be made directly to the Queensway Carleton Hospital Foundation. A previous version of this story linked to the La Vie Health page that hosted the video, which then linked to the QCHF. The link has since been corrected.

CTV Ottawa sincerely regrets these errors.