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SHOPPING IN MBABANE? READ THIS!

17/08/2020 00:59:00 BY PHIWASE PHUNGWAYO

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MBABANE - Doing shopping in Mbabane might poses a danger to you as the Mbabane Municipal Council has found that a majority of retailers are using sanitisers with less alcohol content.

It has been gathered that the municipal council has been carrying out inspections in businesses and shops in the capital city for alcohol content in the hand sanitisers used in the various businesses.

Sanitisers

Out of 30 shops, 20 were found to be using sanitisers containing less than the required 70 per cent alcohol content. It was mentioned that some of the businesses that did not comply with the stipulated alcohol content were those which were prominent in town.

It is worth mentioning that, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), alcohol-based sanitisers and hand rubs are known means for rapidly and effectively inactivating a wide array of potentially harmful microorganisms on hands. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommend using a hand sanitiser with at least 60 per cent alcohol. Mbabane Municipal Council Information and Public Relations Officer (IPRO) Lucky Tsabedze said following that COVID-19 positive cases were on the rise in the Hhohho Region, the council launched a programme of visiting all businesses and shops in town, to inspect the quality of sanitisers. Tsabedze said the focus was strictly on alcohol content, and the country’s COVID-19 guidelines stated clearly that sanitisers should contain 70 per cent alcohol. “The findings are shocking, the sanitisers are seriously below the required 70 per cent stipulated content,” Tsabedze said.

Statistics

Although he did not mention the names of the shops, the IPRO said these were worrying statistics because when shoppers entered shops, they believed they were safe because they had been sanitised. Tsabedze highlighted that customers and consumers automatically believed they entered shops with no virus in their hands and some touched many items. He added that this was risky because the municipality had found that the alcohol content was way below the required 70 per cent. Tsabedze said the exercise, which would go on for a while, was aimed at assisting government to ensure compliance with the COVID-19 regulations.

Containment

The IPRO stated that this was one of many initiatives done by government to help in the containment of the coronavirus. Tsabedze said two weeks ago, the municipal council was out in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training, sensitizing the public on COVID-19 precautionary measures.

He stated that the council would not only end with testing the quality of sanitisers, but also take action. “We have written notices to the businesses that were found to be using sanitisers with low alcohol content, informing them that they should rectify their mistakes promptly, failing which we will escalate the matter,” Tsabedze said. He reiterated that in the event that the business owners did not correct the anomaly, they would be reported to official enforcers of the country. Director of Health Services Dr Vusi Magagula condemned the businesspeople who did not comply with the ministry’s required alcohol content in sanitisers. Magagula pointed out that this challenge stemmed from the fact that everyone was manufacturing sanitisers yet they did not have the skills and expertise.

Manufacturers

“Sanitisers are pharmaceutical products and the Ministry of Health expects that manufacturers should have pharmacists because they know what contents are needed to produce the required sanitisers,” Magagula said.

He added that the ministry also expected that there should be a properly qualified person involved to be responsible for the manufacturing of sanitisers, so that in the event that they reacted badly on the skin, that person would be held accountable.

He highlighted that early this year, the ministry issued guidelines on the proper manufacturing of sanitisers. He advised that individuals should use sanitisers which were made by reputable institutions to ensure that they were made according to the required standards.