By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, May 27: The government authorities have requested the public to be aware of substandard sanitisers before buying or selling one, as unregistered and substandard sanitisers are readily available in the market. They have also started effective investigation in an effort to bust such manufacturers.
Recently, the Metropolitan Crime Division arrested Aashish Pyakurel, 26, owner of Tripureshwor-based Lifeline Surgical Suppliers House. He has been arrested on charge of selling substandard hand sanitisers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before arresting him, the division had sent a sample of sanitiser being sold by Pyakurel to the Department of Drug Administration (DDA). The administration's lab report showed that it contained 24 per cent methanol, proving that it was of low quality.
Following the report, the division then raided a house rented by Pyakurel at Shital Height, Imadol, and confiscated around 25,000 litres of substandard sanitisers and 2,000 litres of methanol. Similarly, they seized 5,000 litres of sanitizers from the surgical house.
As per health experts, methanol is a toxic chemical and should not be used in hand sanitizers and surface disinfectants as it poses a risk of exposure from skin contact, inhalation, or ingestion. Instead, they suggest using ethanol-used sanitizer.
"The sanitisers with methanol don’t work as disinfectant. It negatively affects the skin and poses a huge risk to health," said Santosh KC, information officer at DDA.
The DDA had called for sanitiser manufacturers to get registered with them after having their quality tested before the first nationwide lockdown in March 2020. That was done to ensure quality.
However, officials argue that there are more numbers of sanitizers in the market than that are registered with them. As per a notice by the administration on May 24, there are 61 registered hand sanitiser companies (41 solution and 20 gel).
"We are still allowing sanitiser manufactures to get registered. They can come with their sample and other procedures and we will also conduct inspection, based upon which we will make them eligible to sell," said KC.
However, the DDA has assured to act against the ones selling substandard products or without getting registered. Likewise, Nepal Police have also actively started cracking down on such manufacturers across the country.
The Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, has arrested three individuals from different parts of the Capital on Sunday for selling low-quality sanitizers.
Thousands of liters of such sanitizers were confiscated from Utsab Detergent and Cosmetic Factory and Lama Samip Enterprises. The owners of the factory Kamal Agrawal and Rakesh Agrawal alongside the owner of the enterprise Suman Lama have been arrested.
On Monday afternoon, the Syangja District Police also confiscated 192 literes of substandard sanitizers from two different places of Putalibazaar Municipality.
The authorities have requested the public to inform them if they find any suspicious sanitizers in the market.