Japan: 300,000 Face Masks Sent To Pregnant Women Maybe Faulty

The Japanese government is now facing allegations of distributing faulty masks as per reports. Around 300,000 coronavirus masks were distributed to pregnant women in Japan which turned out to be damaged. This is the latest grievance that has been pointed out to the government.

With the ongoing outbreak, masks remain an essential and prominent item. This has led to a lot of demand for masks and to meet the demands there is a need to increase the production as well as eliminate all the problems which have been reported in the mask.

Also read:Giving Birth And Raising Newborn Twin Babies In Times Of COVID-19

Complaints

As a part of the government’s effort to fight the Coronavirus pandemic, they began to supply each household with two washable and reusable masks but the complaints started coming in about them being faulty and defective. The majority of complaints were registered by pregnant women. This isn’t the first time that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has received complaints regarding the quality of cloth masks. People have also reported about mould, insects, and stains in several masks earlier.

At a total cost of $430 million, the government had supplied each household with two washable and reusable masks but complaints started coming in about them being faulty and defective.

Till 28th March, it was recorded that out of 5,00,000 masks were distributed to pregnant women and 3,00,000 of them were not in the right condition to be used. The masks are being handed as per categories based on vulnerability. Pregnant women and assisted homes for the handicapped were at the top of the list.

Over the weekend the ministry is said to have received at least 1,900 cases of the problems reported by 80 municipalities the HT reported.

Health Ministry's statement

Minster Katsunobu Kato in a briefing assured that the safety of all the masks will be substantiated. He also went on to say “It’s of top priority to guarantee the quality of the masks so pregnant women can use them with relief.” In a string of measures taken to ensure if the masks are safe the administration has asked the five companies to manufacture the masks. Originally they said only three companies were providing them for pregnant women  – Kowa Co Ltd, Matsuoka Corp and Trading house Itochu Corp.

Also read: Differently-Abled Woman Makes 1000 Masks For Health Workers

Measures

After the complaints being filed Itochu Corp said that it will be inspecting some of its undistributed masks and as for Kowa they will also tighten scanning of the masks at its manufacturing plants.

Shreya is an intern with SheThePeople.TV