IT firms placeing bulk orders for masks
Indian Express: The second swine flu death in the city has further shot up the demand for masks, with even leading IT companies placing bulk orders with chemists. To meet the demand, 3 lakh masks were supplied to wholesalers by the Chemists Association of Pune. “We have supplied the masks to wholesalers who will give them to retailers in Pune. They will be available to people Monday onwards,” said Mahendra Pitaliya, coordinator, Chemists Association of Pune.
On Sunday, two leading IT companies placed bulk orders for 1 lakh surgical masks, said N Kannan of Shashi Enterprises. “They want masks for all their employees. We are also in talks with another leading IT company,” Kannan said.
“We have supplied over 1,100 masks to 11 schools in the city and several hundreds to over 300 hospitals in the city,” he added.
On Monday, the Chemists Association is expecting another batch of 2 lakh masks for Pune. These are the regular masks used by doctors during surgery.
The other variety — N 95—¿ which is required by those likely to come in close contact with swine flu patients, is hard to find. “The surgical masks are quite effective for regular people on the streets. The N 95 has to be imported and its availability is less. If we have a demand of 10,000, then we are getting around 100 here,” Pitaliya said.
While regular surgical masks are available at Rs 4-Rs 5, the N 95 is available in Pune between Rs 100 and Rs 200. Taking advantage of the demand, several hawkers are selling both the masks at higher costs outside some hospitals and the railway station.
Chemists said they are rapidly trying to bridge the gap between supply and demand by procuring masks from other cities like Kolkata where cases are not widespread. Even the companies manufacturing these masks have increased the prices of masks, they said.
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Hi,
Its so disgusting to see that most of the chemists in the camp and knodwa
area have starting charging Rs. 15-20 for each Rs 4/5 mask….. dont they
have any soul. I understand its business opportunity but not in the form
what i have been observing in past 4-5days.
We all Punites, need to come together and fight this epidemic by keeping
our ethics intact.
I hope, PMC or Police take strick action against such chemist who try to
fleese the customer in such situation.
If anyone know of any group, who fight for citizen rights in such epidimic
situation, pls let me know…. i would like to send a list of chemist who
are trying to take undue advantage and then they can be black listed
or proper action can be taken.
hp this swin flu gets over fast.