She said Covid-19 PCR tests should also be made more affordable for the general public, adding that the prices of such tests were “exorbitant” compared to Indonesia.
She said people in the lower-income (B40) group would stand to gain the most, and suggested that the government-owned ProtectHealth, which is tasked with B40 care, and the health ministry should provide good masks to those in this group.
“As they have delivered when rolling out the national vaccination programme, I’m sure they can also figure out ways to provide the masks,” she said.
Jemilah, who is executive director of Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, said PCR tests “are still exorbitant here compared to our neighbours such as Indonesia, where the government enforced a drop in the cost to roughly RM80 to RM90 per test”.
N95 masks and those of equivalent standard are certified to filter out 95% of very small particles, of about 0.3 microns in diameter. A box of 50 five-layer KN95 masks sells for between RM15 and RM65 online. Ordinary three-ply surgical masks cost as little as RM5 for a box of 50.
Gopeng MP Dr Lee Boon Chye, a former deputy health minister, believes that price controls should only be placed on masks if there is a monopoly on high-grade surgical masks and there are insufficient supplies.
He said the government should remove red tape and facilitate the manufacturing and importing of such masks.
“The government just needs to ensure there are not too many administrative hurdles for importing them into the country. They should look at ways to facilitate the market function, rather than intervene,” he said.
He said once the masks are easily available, the market price would settle to a lower level.
Lee suggested that face masks be distributed through schools, as the school administrations would know which schoolchildren are in the B40 category.
Prices of N95 masks have hit “ridiculous” highs in the US, according to Bloomberg, because of speculation that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may change its public guidance to advise that people wear the highly protective N95 or KN94 masks instead of cloth or surgical masks.