WITH Selangor now under enhanced movement control order (EMCO), a rubber glove group urged the Government to allow glove factories to continue operating as usual, with strict adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs).
“We also call for an urgent meeting with the International Trade and Industries Ministry (MITI) to resolve issues as 58% of gloves produced in Malaysia comes from the state.
“Since EMCO, our global customers have been calling with great concern on shortage of production and delivery of gloves to them.
“Our members are under tremendous pressure from hospitals and healthcare workers across the world as the new the COVID-19 variant is getting worse,” the Malaysian Rubber Gloves Manufacturers Association’s (MARGMA) president Dr Supramaniam Shanmugam said, in a statement.
Last week, Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has imposed the EMCO on Selangor as the state breached daily infection tally of more than 2,000 cases.
Both MITI ministers Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin has been at loggerheads over the matter, with the former defending the manufacturing sector from criticism despite recording the largest number of COVID-19 clusters.
Touching on the matter, Supramaniam said that personal protective equipment such as face masks and medical examination gloves are high in demand across the world due to COVID-19 and other communicable diseases.
He also said that with the EMCO, global healthcare providers were worried of a possible glove industry shutdown, which will affect production of PPEs needed by healthcare frontliners.
“When it comes to surgical gloves, if there is a shut-down, medical surgeries will be affected as there will be a shortage of sterilised surgical gloves,” he noted.
We will bear vaccination, test kit costs
In general, Supramaniam said that MARGMA members collectively produce and export gloves to over 100 nations, with Malaysian manufacturers supplying about 67% of the market share.
While glove manufacturers have been keeping up with demand despite the 60% work from office rule, he added, a closure would affect production on massive scale.
“Though lead times on delivery have been stretched slightly longer, it was still manageable. EMCO on the other hand, will further hamper the supply situation,” Supramaniam stressed.
Meanwhile, Supramaniam said that MARGMA members have agreed to bear the cost of vaccination for its employees, to speed up the immunisation process among its workforce.
“However, until today, we are still waiting for the delivery of vaccines,” he remarked.
Supramaniam added: “We also urge the Government to make available the saliva-based COVID-19 test kit, which will enhance the screening frequency for our workers and we will bear its costs too.” – July 4, 2021.
