In the wake of COVID19 outbreak, many voluntary and ‘for profit’ initiatives have taken up the job of making face masks.Javaid Ahmad Bhat who owns a factory at Rangrath produces 5,000 face masks daily. “In view of the present situation, I have started making face masks. We make 5,000 masks per day and average cost per mask is Rs 9. We supply in bulk to hospitals,” Bhat said.
“Luckily I have sufficient material available which can suffice to produce more than ten lakh masks. I am also giving the material to various unit holders for the purpose to ease the problem of the general public,” he added.
At the onset of the covid19 in Kashmir, the price of face masks had suddenly gone up— astonishingly in some cases it had quadrupled with sellers blaming its shortage; though some good spirited people distributed masks free of cost.
Bashir Nadwi, chairman Athrout, a charitable trust, had bought 20,000 surgical masks to overcome the crisis. “After their distribution among various hospitals, we are left with just 4,000 masks,” Nadwi said.
He said they also bought mask-cloth and made around 6,000 masks for ordinary people. “We did not collect any money for it; we bought the supply of our own because our purpose is to serve humanity,” he said.
Interestingly, many people from different places in Kashmir have taken up the voluntary job of making masks from their homes. Some of them have shared the design, material and technique involved in preparation of normal masks.
However, according to the medical experts, the use of homemade masks being prepared by tailors across the valley is “unsafe” and “harmful” to use.
