Hoi polloi run to get masks, chemists run out of stock

The city of Vadodara has witnessed only three people testing positive for H1N1 influenza and one death since its outbreak in the country, still people have pressed the panic buttons and are desperately looking to buy N95 masks and hand sanitizers.

After a number of schools reported their students having fever, chemists and shop owners around the country say there has been a sudden rush among the parents to buy N95 masks for their children.

The N95 mask, which is supposed to offer best protection, is available to only a few, particularly doctors. The rest are now rushing to purchase surgical masks, which offer temporary protection from the lethal virus.

Shortage leading to profiteering
The shortage of these masks has led to exploitation at several levels. Chemists complain that the unusual demand for these masks is difficult to meet with stockists charging hefty sums to provide the masks to them.

"I have a couple of clinics around my shop. Any person who comes from there with a prescription invariably asks for a surgical mask. I had to order masks to cater to them. However, after the suppliers started charging exorbitant amounts, I have stopped keeping them at my shop," says Mukesh Gandhi, who owns a pharmacy in Jetalpur area of Vadodara.

Gandhi added that he now supplies masks only to doctors as they genuinely need them. He further said that several people in the city were inquiring about the N95 masks. "It was hardly available in the city even when swine flu was not known. Getting one now is even more difficult," he said.

A chemist in Race Course area said that the single-layered surgical mask hardly cost him Rs. 2 before the outbreak of the pandemic.

"After the news of the swine flu death in the city spread, prices were jacked up to anything around Rs 5. It is also difficult to procure them and whatever we get are sold out in no time. The same has happened with sanitizers," he said.

Chemists claim that items like hand sanitizers and masks, which were earlier bought only by doctors, are now in great demand. Same is the case with eucalyptus oil, after a word that using it on one's handkerchief or mask to cover the face provides added protection against the swine flu virus.

Death toll crosses teens in country
The H1N1 pandemic has sniffed yet another life; that of a 26-year-old Bangalore woman, who succumbed to the lethal virus Thursday. Bangalore's first victim takes the country-wide toll to 20.

The woman, identified as Roopa, a teacher in a private school, was tested positive for the influenza and was undergoing treatment at Bangalore's St. Philomena hospital, health authorities said.

A mother of two children aged between six and four, Roopa was hospitalised on Aug. 7 with pneumonia, and later tested positive for H1N1 virus. She was also suffering from high blood sugar, authorities informed.