Wearing masks is one of the precautions by which human beings can protect themselves against contagious diseases like coronavirus. There are two types of masks: one which we call surgical mask and the second respiratory mask or N95. Both of these masks have vanished from markets as their demand increased due to appearance of two coronavirus patients in the country. This disease has hit about 44 countries, including Pakistan, and its neighbours China and Iran. India and Pakistan have stopped flights to Iran to safeguard themselves. China was the first to be hit by it. Pakistani students were left out there for treatment and they were being taken good care of. At that time, some profiteers are out to cash in on the disease scare. First they exported masks to China where their prices have increased due to high demand. To discourage these profiteers, the government banned export of masks to China, which was a good decision.
However, the mask mafia is so big that after a month or so the government had to allow a few selected companies to make the exports. No one in the decision-making offices at that time was able to comprehend the fact that Pakistan is prone to this disease too and we could be needing these masks in the days to come. And then those fears came true. Now what? Prices of surgical masks have doubled and those of respiratory masks more than doubled. The government seems to be considering one-size-fits-all sort of solutions. It thinks that district administrations have the answer to the problem. What can deputy commissioners and commissioners do in this situation? For all the raids they make on profiteers and hoarders, they cannot solve this problem as it has acquired international magnitude.
We failed to make the right decision at the right time. When profiteers were exporting this commodity for the sake of quick bucks, they should have been checked. Now that they have had a field day, the government’s actions amount to precious little. Since the problem is international, its solution should also be international. Countries like China and Japan are willing to extend their cooperation to Pakistan in tackling this challenge. We should learn from their experience of manufacturing masks so that no profiteer is ever able to exploit such situations any more. *