Gabriellia Hazel
KUCHING: The new ceiling price for face masks at RM1.50 per piece announced by the government has received mixed reactions here.
A hotelier Gabriellia Hazel said although she supported the move, she doubted whether the face masks would be easily available in pharmacies.
“Of course this move will benefit the people, but how are people going to get the masks?
“All the pharmacies I visited informed me that they ran out of stock,” she said when contacted by The Borneo Post yesterday.
Melvin Christ
Like Gabriella, her colleague Melvin Christ also said that even though the ceiling price was reduced from RM2 to RM1.50 per piece, the stocks for the face masks should be made available.
He complained that several pharmacies and shops were still selling the masks higher than the ceiling price.
“The government should take action against traders selling the face masks above the ceiling price,” he added.
Morriscan Irie
Melvin expressed his hope that the government would continuously provide the face masks to the front liners, especially those in the medical team to combat Covid-19.
Wealth planner Morriscan Irie commented that the face masks should be affordable to all levels of society and suggested that the ceiling price should be lower as the masks should only be worn once, not to be worn again or recycled.
Full-time nurse Jersyca Sibat agreed that the reduced ceiling price was a good move by the government as it would benefit all people, especially those who are from the low-income group.
Jersyca Sibat
When asked whether the government should also set a ceiling price for hand sanitizers, she said she would welcome the move as sanitizers are important in keeping cleanliness and hygiene.
On Monday, the government announced that the new price of face masks was fixed at RM1.50 per piece effective April 1.
According to Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, the new price is lower than the RM2 per piece set previously.
“We will continue reviewing the price (of face masks) from time to time and if it continues to drop, we will review it and announce a new ceiling price,” he told a press conference after the meeting of the Special Ministerial Committee on the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Putrajaya.