Kazakh enterprises produce up to 170 thousand medical masks per day — Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development

At the press conference in the Government, journalists were given clarifications on the issue of the shortage of medical masks in the country.

Deputy Prime Minister Yeraly Tugzhanov said that the full volume of masks in the country will be provided.

“Of course, in some pharmacies today, maybe there really are no masks. We can not guarantee. The first days when this topic was raised, there was a certain stir. Not only in Kazakhstan, in many countries. Therefore, a certain deficit, of course, took place. But today these issues are completely taken under state control. The issue of providing masks today is on the agenda. There are our own companies, because all states today are concerned about this issue, and will not give their masks. Therefore, all four of our companies are fully operational. The full volume of masks in Kazakhstan will be provided. Once again, if masks are not available in individual pharmacies, this does not mean that we are not ready for this in Kazakhstan,” said Tugzhanov.

He also said that specific government agencies, primarily the border and customs services, were given a specific, strict order to ban the export of masks from Kazakhstan. According to Tugzhanov, such attempts were, first of all, from Kazakhstan to China.

According to Minister of Healthcare Yelzhan Birtanov, a healthy person does not need a mask. First of all, masks should be mandatory in medical institutions where there are patients and medical personnel who are in contact with patients with various infections around the clock.

“We have formed reserves for the medical organization to protect people. If you yourself are sick, then you should wear masks to protect your loved ones, even if it is just the flu. So this excitement, panic causes very serious damage, since the entire volume that was in retail was practically bought out by citizens today. The issue of additional production is being resolved,” said the head of the Ministry of Healthcare.

In turn, Vice Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development Berik Kamaliev said that the productivity of Kazakhstani enterprises is 170 thousand masks per day.

“Each month, these enterprises produce 5 million masks. There is an opportunity to increase them to 6.5 million. Therefore, together with the Ministry of Healthcare, on behalf of the prime minister, we are engaged in security. They have raw materials before the end of the year. Only for one company, the question was raised when suppliers from China asked in exchange for raw materials to give 50% with medical masks. This issue has been resolved,” added Kamaliev.

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