Indecisiveness and failure to anticipate ‘panic-buying’ causing widespread mask shortages? Let the people decide.
Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen had said on Fri 21 Jun 2013 that the “artificial shortage” [of N95 masks] was caused by panic-buying. (see http://www.tnp.sg/content/hunt-face-masks-grows-more-desperate).
In order to answer the above question, I think it is very important to let people decide for themselves based on what actually happened (see chronology below), as opposed to being distracted from daily promises, aspirations and assurances of “we are ready” or “we have enough”.
Reality on the ground matters much more than mere promises.
Please take note of the number of masks that were released from MOH’s stock and distributed initially on Thu (7K – 21K), and then later from Sat (figures of 800K, 1 million etc were cited in the media).
When did purchase restrictions on the number of masks start to take effect?
Is this a situation of real demand being not met, hence the occurrences of island-wide shortages since Wed until Sat?
Or is this a case of “artificial demand” as claimed by Minister Ng Eng Hen?
Just let the people decide.
Chronology of Key Events
- 9 million masks in MOH’s stock located at secured armories before onset of unhealthy haze in the week of 17th June 2013.
- 3-hour PSI had soared to 290 at 9pm Wed 19 June
- Yahoo news on Thu, Jun 20, 2013, first reported shortages in some Guardian Pharmacy outlets they checked on Wed 19 June 2013.
- 3-hour PSI reading hits a high of 371 at 1pm Thu, 20 June.
- As of the afternoon of Thu 20 June 2013, there have been 7,000 and 21,000 N95 masks that have been distributed to Unity and Guardian respectively. (see http://e101.gov.sg/haze/mask.htm)
- 3-hour PSI reading hit a record 400 at 11 am Fri, 21 June.
- Singaporeans rushed out to buy N95 masks Fri 21 Morning, the day after the Government announced it would be releasing stocks to pharmacy stores [on late Thu]. But many shoppers could not get their hands on them at pharmacies such as Unity, Guardian and Watsons as most of their outlets had run out of the masks by lunchtime. (ST Jun 22, 2013: N95 masks sell out quickly at pharmacies)
- No official reports of another large-scale mask distribution to retail outlets on Friday 21 Jun 2013, after the efforts reported late Thu 20 Jun 2013.
- NTUC Unity Healthcare said it is stocking some 800,000 pieces of N95 face masks progressively in its retail outlets from today (Sat 22 Jun). In a statement, NTUC Unity said its retail outlets will be limiting the purchase of the masks to 10 pieces per customer. (seehttp://www.todayonline.com/singapore/discount-n95-masks-being-offered-ntuc-unity-healthcare)
- The government will distribute N95 masks free to poorer households in all constituencies through grassroots organisations [starting from Sat 22 Jun 2013]. About 200,000 households will receive 1 million N95 masks.
- NTUC FairPrice said face masks, including N95 face masks, will be restocked and available at all 115 FairPrice supermarkets, FairPrice Finest and FairPrice Xtra hypermarkets from Monday 24 Jun 2013.
So, was the PAP Govt indecisive? Did they fail to anticipate the demand for N95 masks?
You decide.
Peter