Amid Covid apprehensions, demand for masks and sanitizers rises

HYDERABAD: Amid fears of a surge in Covid cases in the next 40 days, people have started buying sanitizers and masks. Several pharmacy owners, whom this correspondent met, reported a gradual increase in sale of sanitizers and masks. They have been placing bulk orders to meet the demand.

“It is only since the last one week that people have started buying masks and sanitizers. Most people prefer to buy pocket sanitizers than the big ones. There has been a steady increase in demand for popular liquid hand wash brands. Although we have sufficient stock, we have placed orders seeing the demands for sanitizers, masks and liquid hand wash,” said Sudarshan B, in charge of a popular pharmacy in the city.

Meanwhile, some pharmacists running the business for over 30 years have cautioned people against falling prey to huge discounts being offered on sanitisers and medicines as they could either be outdated or duplicate ones.

“It is clearly observed that those giving more then 10-15 per cent discount is either not selling the right medicine or it is a duplicate product. We also have got to know that the expiry date is removed from medicines, especially with regard to sanitizers sold online,” said Mohan S.

“Pharmacy workers try to give medicines that are not the prescribed ones. Many doctors mostly prescribe branded medications which fall under the 10 per cent discount category. But those sold at huge discount rates have no surety,” cautioned Dr Rahul Agrawal, senior consultant physician. He said people are more bothered about the price than the quality. Price should not be considered when it comes to health, he said.

He added that as the Covid panic rises, many people tend to overdo it by using sanitizers to the extremes. “Sanitizing spoons and fork before using them is as bad as spraying sanitizer on food, which must be avoided. People need to only wear a proper mask of any kind which properly covers their nose and mouth and prevent droplets from entering or exiting the mask. Only medical professionals need to wear masks like N95," he said.