(EPA)
ADDIS ABABA – Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) said that it is working on ensuring sufficient sanitizer and mask supply in a bid to support the national effort in averting the spread of coronavirus disease.
The ministry has supported some 39 industries to get 2.5 million liter technical alcohol from the Ethiopian Sugar Corporation as an input to produce sanitizer. Some industries like Sansheng and Epharm have already started production. The governments also ordered the technical alcohol to be exempted of excise tax.
The Corporation through its sugar factories such as Metehara and Fincha is producing 100,000 liter technical alcohol per day. It is also reserved over three million liter of alcohol so far that can be used as an input for sanitizer production.
Accordingly, some 200,000 liter sanitizer has been produced and distributed over the past weeks.
Therefore, 1.5 million Birr worth sanitizer has been granted for free to prisons, charity organizations and industry parks among others, according to MoTI State Minister Teka Gebreyesus.
So far, some nine million people have been benefited from the sanitizer. However, misuse of the already distributed sanitizer is harming the people in terms of shortage and injury, according to him.
Some people use the sanitizer at home and exposed for fire accident while others are yet facing shortage of it on the course of their job, it was noticed.
According to the state minister, COVID-19 is a pandemic which is not only an overwhelming problem to developing nations but also to the developed ones. Therefore, the public must help each other and protect itself from the virus by properly using sanitizer.
On the other hand, the ministry is also working with stakeholders to properly exploit local potential to produce sufficient mask in the country to meet demand. Shintsetp plc, Korean Company based in Bole Lemi Industrial Park is going to produce two million masks per month, The Ethiopian Herald noticed.
In addition, local industries working in pharmaceuticals production also going to produce mask for free as they got the support of the ministry to produce up to 2000 masks, it was learnt.
The government expects extra pharmaceuticals supply as local industries are showing interest to focus on sanitizer and mask production enjoying the tax relief on importing inputs to produce the equipment.
The Ethiopian Herald March 31/2020
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
