Covid-19: Shortage of hand sanitiser, mask in Nagaland

Our Reporter
Dimapur, March 17 (EMN): As the global death toll of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) went past 7000 on Tuesday, doubt and uncertainty persist among the citizens of Nagaland although the state is yet to report any Covid-19 detection.

The confusion has been compounded, to an extent, by the unavailability of surgical masks and hand sanitisers in the market—despite a central government notification declaring those as ‘essential items’.

Although the government of Nagaland had announced, among others, the imposition of a blanket ban on tourists and closure of all educational institutions, anxiety among the public remains.

Over the week, Nagaland has witnessed a sell-out of surgical masks and hand sanitisers even as the public rushed to medical stores to buy the first-hand preventive measure.

According to a medical store owner in Dimapur, surgical masks are not available at the moment as it went out of stock 10 days ago. Since the outbreak of coronavirus, she said, people started stocking up by buying in bulk.

Same was the case with hand sanitisers. She said that they had placed an order for them but was not sure when it would arrive and added that normal masks were also in shortage in the market.

It may be mentioned that the government had ordered stringent action against those charging more than the MRP rate for masks.

A medical store salesman said that in the current scenario, the wholesale price for three layer mask was around INR 25 per piece and in retail, it was sold at around INR 30. He also informed that around 1000 customers came to the shop to buy surgical masks Tuesday itself.

In most of the medical stores in Dimapur, surgical masks were out-of-stock and even hand sanitisers were running out. In few shops, N95 masks were available, priced between INR 250 to INR 470.

According to one of the medical shop owners, N95 mask can be used for 15 days and after that, the mask could be washed with boiled water. It can then be used for 5 to 7 more days as the effect of the mask would be reduced.

One of the officials from District Hospital Dimapur informed that the hospital has sufficient surgical masks, hand sanitisers and personal protective equipment. He also informed that more consignment would be arriving from Kohima within a day or two. He added that the district hospital has kept 10 isolation beds ready.

The District Surveillance Officer Dimapur, Dr. Imtiwapong, informed that thermal scanning at Dimapur Railway Station has not been set up yet since they were waiting for the equipment from Kohima.

He said that they were in the process of setting up a ‘proper team’ since Dimapur Railway Station has around 55 to 56 trains travelling through it daily. To manage it, he pointed out, would be a ‘huge task’.