KARACHI: The Sindh government on Friday started efforts to control the trade of masks amid growing public complaints of hoarding by vendors and stockists.

Following the positive test reports of coronavirus in two patients in the country, the prices of masks skyrocketed.

Amid the mask-buying frenzy by public, the government took control of a consignment of 80,000 masks to distribute them among hospitals, where the key product is unavailable, officials said.

The Sindh drug inspectors earlier raided the wholesale market of medicine in the city, popularly known as Kachi Gali, where they failed to spot any profiteer or hoarding facility and returned empty handed.

The officials then moved to Port Qasim, where a consignment of N95 category mask was waiting to be cleared by authorities.

“We have taken that consignment into custody, which carried total 80,000 N95 masks,” said chief drug inspector Shoaib Ansari. “One should be clear that there is no illegality in the import of that consignment and the company brought these masks by following all defined rules and regulations. However, the Sindh government has decided to control the trade of protective masks amid recent shortages following reports of coronavirus to make the masks available to hospitals.”

He said that the importer would be paid the price of all the masks and no penalty or fine would be imposed on the firm.

The drug control authorities were just helping the government and the Sindh health department to make these masks available at hospitals, officials said.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said on Thursday that the provincial government would acquire all equipment and masks related to coronavirus and would pay “fair price” for all these items to the vendors so that a fake shortage was not created in the market and profiteers did not take unfair advantage of the situation.

The move from the drug inspectors and the measures announced by the provincial government, however, have fallen short of bringing the prices of the protective mask down.

More effective measures sought

The traders point towards black sheep in their own community and have asked the government for more effective measures.

“There is a countrywide shortage of surgical masks while the N95 is almost unavailable,” said Ghulam Hashim Noorani of the Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association.

“The N95 is a kind of personal protective product, which is used to protect the wearer from contaminating liquid and airborne particles. They are one part of an infection-control strategy. A 50-piece pack of surgical masks, which was available at Rs180 till last week, is now selling at Rs2,500. This is outrageous and defies all values of humanity and business ethics.”

He said even the charity organisations which usually came forward in such crises found themselves helpless due to inflationary prices and his association was receiving non-stop calls from hospitals for fresh supply of masks.

“We appeal to the government for more strong and effective measures. We offer every support and cooperation, which we can provide and we are ready to help the authorities to bring back the situation to normality,” added Mr Noorani.

Published in Dawn, February 29th, 2020