The Central Pharmacy, on Saturday, started supplying pharmacies with single-use face masks for marketing to the general public which will start Sunday, especially to those concerned by targeted deconfinement that will be applied from Monday, May 4, Health Minister Abdellatif Mekki said in an interview with TAP.
“We invite private pharmacies to work Sunday to avoid crowds in on-duty pharmacies and ensure the smooth running of the sale of face masks,” Mekki told TAP.
He said the phase of saturation of the market with this product will come at the end of next week, that is, after the start of the supply of pharmacies with quantities of multi-purpose masks, at lower cost and more environmentally friendly.”
He stressed the need to supply pharmacies with face masks that comply with the standards set out in the specifications, calling for the presence of indications mentioning the trademark of the mask, the factory in which it was produced and its packaging.
The Minister of Health said on Saturday he had met the president of the Tunisian Consumer Defense Organisation (OTDC), Slim Taamallah to encourage the organisation to support the control efforts made by all stakeholders involved in the marketing of face masks, in order to avoid speculation and monopoly practices.
Regarding reports that the union of dentists has been supplied with substandard face masks, Mekki said the Health Ministry began distributing masks Saturday, “calling on all parties with complaints to go directly to the Ministry of Health for verification and investigation if necessary.
Mekki had indicated in a statement to TAP Friday the multi-purpose masks marketed during the last period, “have nothing to do with the Ministry of Health and are not part of the 30 million face masks that the Health Department has committed to supply to private pharmacies.”
The Tunisian union of private pharmacy owners said Friday 90% of the non-medical masks marketed in Tunisia do not comply with health standards.
The Tunisian authorities had decided to gradually ease the general health lockdown which was imposed as a preventive measure against coronavirus and to apply from Monday May 4 a targeted lockdown.
