Adhere to standards & ensure affordability, PPE firms told

Business Reporter
THE Minister of Industry and Commerce, Dr Sekai Nzenza, has directed manufacturers and importers of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to subject their products to standards certification while urging consumers to be vigilant when buying to ensure products are certified.

In light of the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, there has been an increased demand and need for PPE to mitigate and control the effects of the disease. At the same time this also brings to the fore the need to ensure affordability and availability of compliant protective equipment against the disease in order to adequately protect the consumers at various levels.

The Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) has been mandated with the conformity assessment (CA) procedures to attest compliance through laboratory testing and certification of Covid-19 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as per the gazetted standards. This applies for both manufactured and imported PPE.

Government, through Statutory Instrument 92 of 2020 gazetted mandatory standards applicable to manufacturers and stockists/suppliers of PPE to ensure adequate protection and mitigation of the spread of Covid-19 for frontline health workers, patients and the general consumers.

The standards are de-alienated to the quality required for their various applications of PPE for frontline health workers, patients and the general public.

In an interview, Dr Nzenza stated that: “It’s important to ensure that the consumer is not only adequately protected by standards compliant PPE but also gets value for money in procurement of protective equipment. Non-compliant PPE potentially puts the consumers at the risk of Covid-19.”

While a number of companies have subjected their products to SAZ certification the ministry has said that those falling short were working closely with the standards body to apply corrective measures. Dr Nzenza called on manufacturers and retailers of PPE to apply equitable pricing to ensure affordability of available protection to the consumers.

In this regard, she said that collaborative efforts were in place with key stakeholders including the Competition and Tariff Commission and Consumer Council of Zimbabwe. In a snap market survey, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said it noted that disposable masks (3 ply masks) prices ranged from US$0,50 to US$1 per single mask while re-usable masks cost US$1 to US$2,50 per single mask and are readily available in all pharmacies. The N95 type range from US$3 to US$5. The pricing is primarily influenced by the fact that the market is relying to a greater extent on imports.

As part of the country’s Local Content Strategy, the ministry has said it is conducting a gap analysis in order to facilitate for import substitution of the products and support local production of PPE. Dr Nzenza has also urged private companies to accelerate the import substitution programme by utilising available raw materials to innovate and replace imported PPE.