KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Rubber Gloves Manufacturers Association (Margma) is pleading the government to enable glove factories to continue operating as gloves are critical in the fight against the spread of Covid-19.
Its president Supramaniam Shanmugam said following the implementation of the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) in Selangor, global customers have been calling with great concern on production and delivery shortages of gloves to them.
“Our members are under tremendous pressure from global hospitals and healthcare workers as the pandemic has now evolved into another variant.
“There is a big fear going around the global healthcare sectors when our minister announced the possibility of a shutdown of the glove industry as medical gloves are sorely needed to protect frontliners and hospital staff,” he said in a statement.
He said Margma members collectively produce and export gloves to 195 countries around the world and Malaysian manufacturers play a big role in humanity response as the largest producer of gloves as a medical device, supplying 67% of global consumption.
Supramaniam said the EMCO would hamper the supply situation, hence the association is calling for an urgent meeting with the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) to work together to address the concerns by all parties involved.
“We are urgently called for a meeting with Miti to resolve issues surrounding the imposed EMCO as 58% of all gloves produced in Malaysia comes from manufacturers located in Selangor,” he added.
He said the global demand for gloves remains extremely robust for the healthcare sector and Margma members have been urged to pay more attention to assist on supply to hard-hit nations including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and many South American nations.
“As Europe and America move towards a recovery phase, members are gearing up to meet the demand of the non-healthcare sectors such as food handling, industrial, cleanroom laboratory, dermatology, and tattooing, among others,” he said.
He said global demand for gloves in 2021 is expected to remain at 420 billion pieces, with 13,318 pieces used every second around the world, and grow between 15 and 20% next year.
Supramaniam said Margma members have agreed to vaccinate all employees at their companies’ own costs and all glove employees, besides being registered for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme on MySejahtera, are registered with the Public-Private Partnership Industrial Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, Selangor Vaccination Programme and Vaccination Programme for the Agri-commodity Sector.
“We have also appealed to the government to make available soonest possible the saliva-based Covid-19 test kit, which will greatly enhance the frequency for screening of workers. Our manufacturers have also agreed to bear all the costs of these test kits,” he added. – Bernama, July 4, 2021
