Authorities take action against production of ‘fake’ medical masks
ANKARA
Turkish Health Ministry has launched an inspection campaign against companies that deceive people with label frauds on medical masks.
Determining that some companies do not use “melt-blown” material, which increases the protection rate in medical masks from 90 percent to 98 percent, but label their products as “melt-blown,” the ministry’s Market Surveillance and Inspection Agency will tighten its inspections.
While such products were expected to be recalled from the market, a series of support came from industry representatives for a strict inspection campaign.
Stating that after the need for masks increased during the pandemic period, many people who were not related to the sector entered the mask production business and poor quality products were introduced to the market, Erkin Delikanlı, an official from the Federation of All Medical Device Manufacturers and Suppliers Associations, emphasized that this situation caused the widespread use of poor quality masks in the country.
Underlining that the masks used to reduce the spread of the virus should be of good quality and the protection rate should be at least 98 percent, Delikanlı stated that it was mandatory to place a “melt-blown” layer in the middle of the masks produced in three layers.
“While many EU countries have made the use of N95 masks compulsory in public transport, it is unacceptable to use masks with low protection in Turkey,” Delikanlı said, adding that a mask with high protection must contain “melt-blown” material.
“Recently, we see that many brands sell masks with the ‘melt-blown protective’ label in major stores. However, when you open up most of them, we cannot see this layer,” Delikanlı noted.
Stating that some companies even use bag lining in the production of masks, Delikanlı urged the relevant authorities to tighten their inspections.
“What citizens need to do is to choose the products of reliable brands and to check the content of the products they buy,” Delikanlı said, adding that barcode numbers on mask packs can be checked.
