KARACHI: Sharjeel Jamal of M/s Utrade Logistics has urged the government to remove the restrictions on the import of personal protective equipment (PPE) to fight against the COVID-19. It may be mentioned here the death toll has already crossed 2,000 mark.
He said that due to the restrictions imposed by the government, commercial import of PPE including KN95 masks had stopped resulting in extreme shortage of these goods in the market.
Sharjeel Jamal said N95 masks and other PPE was being smuggled through mis-declaration and cargo replacement at Export Processing Zones (EPZs). Jamal said PPE was being cleared from terminals at airports without filing of Goods Declaration (GDs).
Due to this situation, the supply of PPE was limited and prices were high. He said the COVID-19 was spreading fast in the country and if PPE remained in short supply, it would be very difficult to overcome this threat.
State Minister for Health Dr Zafar Mirza on Saturday acknowledged the shortage of safety gear in the hospitals.
The shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) has been hampering government’s efforts to safeguard its healthcare workers and put up a strong response to the outbreak of 2019 Novel Coronavirus.
PPEs are most important to prevent human to human transmission and to protect the healthcare providers from being infected.