Manufacturing of PPE (personal protective equipment) kits picked up in a big way in the past 14 months after the spread of coronavirus. The kits, being used by many people in different professions today, were used exclusively by medical professionals pre-Corona.
“Until the pandemic, PPEs were largely restricted to the medical and industrial sector. Covid-19 has brought them to the mainstream’’, says Saju George, MD, Al Farsi National Enterprises LLC, a leading Omani manufacturer and supplier of medical equipment to government and private hospitals. The unit is based in Al Misfah Industrial Area.
During the early days of the pandemic, there was over ten-fold increase (1000 per cent) in PPE demand. Currently, the demand has stabilised, but it is still well above the pre-pandemic levels. And the competition, it’s getting even fierce by the day as players try to undercut their opponent with products imported straight from the place of production.
“Industrial units which are making PPE have witnessed a leap in business over the past one year’’, says Mohammed Aneise, MD of Med Life.
The need for PPE products at all hospitals, clinics, polyclinic and medical colleges, and nursing institutes has jumped manifold.
“We used to manage our PPE requirement from the local market, but with the Covid-19, we started importing as our consumption went up several times’’, a representative of Oman Dental College said.
The biggest in-demand item is medical-grade surgical face masks such as Viral Filtration Efficiency (VFE) rated product like Trusta and hospital-grade hand sanitisers, Sterillium for instance. In addition, customers are also demanding surface disinfection products such as wipes and surface sprays for use in home and offices. N-95 respirators, coveralls, surface disinfectants and face shields continue to be in demand in the front-line healthcare sector and people seeking out during air travel.
“However, the hand sanitiser sector could sustain the growth in business while other products have been more or less replaced with cheaper, imported products while demand for the same is saturated to a great extent’’, he adds.
Surgical Masks that were confined to the labs, operation theatres and post-operation wards of hospitals touched a RO 10 for a box of 50 pieces during the peak Corona days.
However, they fell back to an all-time low of 500 baisa per box as production and supply increased, and imports too went high.
“We started producing both surgical masks and N-95 masks in 2020, which saw great demand from both local as well as international markets’’, says Saju.
CHALLENGES:
The biggest challenge from a customer point of view is the quality of the PPE used. The market is awash with cheap products of questionable quality. It is essential to recognise that style and affordable pricing does not come at the expense of protection.
“One should always check for the quality certifications such as Viral Filtration Efficiency (VFE), Particulate Filtration Efficiency (PFE), Bacterial Filtration Efficiency (BFE) and Fluid Resistance, adds Saju.
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