Hyderabad chemists unable to meet demand for surgical masks

Hyderabad: Medical shops and pharmacies in the city are facing shortage of surgical face masks, several chemists that Deccan Chronicle spoke to complained on Saturday. The demand for masks in the past two to three days has gone up several notches, and the suppliers are unable to match the supply time owing to the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases across the country, they said. 

"In the past two to three days, people have flocked to the shop asking for bundles of masks and sanitisers, we are running out of the essential items much more quickly than before", said a shop owner at PG Road here in the city. 

Another pharmacist in the city said that the distributors of these items are unable to match the demand, and therefore masks and sanitisers are flying off the shelf, depleting the stock faster than that they receive from the suppliers.

The Telangana Chemists' Association as well as Pharmacists' Association say that it will be wrong to say that it is a shortage. "It is only the sudden increase in demand over the past one week that has forced the public to stock up for uncertain times. The demand is too high to match the supply from distributors.", said Paramathma Chilukuri, Nalagonda District General Secretary, Telangana Pharmacists' Association. 

There is also a slight increase in the prices of the three-ply surgical masks in the city, some chemists said. The masks that were until two days ago being sold at Rs. 2, are now being charged at Rs. 3 or Rs. 4 at several shops.