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Ministry Of Industry Revealed That About 20000000 NMD Masks In The Country, Why Is It Difficult To Find A Mask?

2020/2/5 11:53:00 0

Mask

Editor's note, since the outbreak of the epidemic in Wuhan, health protection products such as masks, protective clothing and goggles have been in short supply. Taking mask as an example, through analyzing the current situation of supply and demand, this paper probes into the root causes of the shortage of medical products and puts forward specific improvement measures, hoping to be helpful for fighting the epidemic situation.

This article is from the Economic Journal of medicine. The author is Li Hong, who is a health editor of the billion Euro High School.

At the State Council new office conference held in February 3rd, Tian Yulong, member and chief engineer of the party headquarters of the Ministry of industry and commerce, revealed that the overall capacity of China's masks is about 20000000 per day, the largest capacity in the world. The supply capacity of N95 and medical surgical masks is sufficient, but recovery takes time.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Wuhan, health protection products such as masks, protective clothing and goggles have been in short supply. Taking mask as an example, through analyzing the current situation of supply and demand, this paper probes into the root causes of the shortage of medical products and puts forward specific improvement measures, hoping to be helpful for fighting the epidemic situation.

Which accounts for half of the global mask production. Why is it tight?

First, let's take a look at the productivity of China's mask industry. According to the Ministry of industry and information technology, the largest production capacity of masks in China is about 20000000 per day, which accounts for half of the global mask production. Ordinarily, this capacity is very high, but why is it difficult to supply when needed? The author analyzes the following four reasons.

Inventory is not enough to meet demand outbreak

During the SARS period in 2003, the demand for respirators experienced a surge. Since then, the mask demand has remained relatively stable for 17 years. At the same time, because the mask has large capacity, convenient circulation and short duration, hospitals and manufacturing enterprises usually keep only one or two weeks' inventory. The general public has little demand for masks and no sense of masks. A variety of reasons caused the limited inventory of respirators. The outbreak of the outbreak in Wuhan was sudden, and the demand for masks was almost detonated overnight. From hospitals to pharmacies, from supermarkets to factories, limited masks inventory is quickly dispelled by various channels. In addition, the outbreak of the outbreak coincided with the Spring Festival holiday, most mask manufacturers have also been on holiday, a short time to resume work there is some difficulty. By the end of January, with the strong support from all sides, output increased to about 60% of the maximum capacity. However, it still could not keep up with the increasing demand.

Complex manufacturing makes it difficult to increase production.

Respirators that can play a protective role in the epidemic are basically two kinds of medical devices. According to the catalogue of medical devices in China, respirators can be classified into two categories:

The first is medical surgical mask, which belongs to operation room infection control supplies. This mask is usually made up of mask, shaped parts, band and other components. It is usually made of nonwoven material and can be isolated through filtration. It is used in the oral and nasal parts of medical staff in operation room to prevent the spread of dandruff and respiratory tract microorganism to open surgical wounds, and prevent the spread of body fluids from surgical patients to medical personnel, so as to play a two-way biological protection role.

The second is the medical respirator, which belongs to the protective articles for medical staff. This mask is usually made of one or more fabrics that are isolated from virus aerosols, viruses and liquids. Under the breathing air flow, it still has a barrier effect on virus aerosols, including virus and liquid, and when it is removed, the outer surface of the mask is not in contact with the human body. When used, it is worn on the face to prevent the spread of viruses from patients to medical personnel.

Mask seems to be simple in structure, but it is not difficult to create. The production process must be completed in the clean room, automatic equipment is also needed, and the finished products must be sterilized. After sterilization, it takes about two weeks to complete the aseptic and residue detection. Therefore, the mask can be shipped directly without being manufactured. Since the outbreak of the outbreak, the author has also seen some laymen trying to cross the border to produce masks, but the hardware facilities such as cleanroom, automation equipment, sterilization cabinet and so on are hard to establish in the short term and will eventually be dropped.

In addition, medical masks need to use a special melt blown material as filter layer. This kind of material does not have many manufacturers, and the production capacity is limited. If the supply of raw materials can not keep up, even if the mask manufacturers are working overtime, they will not be able to come up.

Different standards make it difficult to introduce.

Because masks are standardized medical products, they must comply with relevant standards before they can be listed legally. The global mask standard mainly includes three major systems: China, the United States and the European Union. In addition, Japan, Korea and other countries have set up their own mask standards. Among them, China's standard also subdivides different types of masks into different standards. Because the standards of different market countries are inconsistent, the mask used for export at the early stage of the epidemic can not be used for domestic use. Fortunately, according to the spirit of emergency examination and approval, the drug administration departments timely issued policies to allow export products to comply with domestic export regulations through technical requirements comparison and consistency evaluation.

China's mask standards include the following five kinds.

YY0469-2011: medical surgical mask.

GB19083: technical requirements for medical respirators.

"GB 2626-2006 respiratory protective equipment - self suction filter particulate respirator"

"YY/T 0969-2013 disposable medical mask"

Technical specification for GB/T 32610-2016 daily protective respirator

The mainstream standards of the United States and the European Union are respectively

Standard Specification for material properties of ASTM F2100-2019 medical masks

Requirements and test methods for EN14683-2014 medical masks

These standards have different definitions and divisions for different levels of masks, but it is difficult for them to identify them without learning. Therefore, when the masks were donated, there was a regret that the donation models did not meet the requirements.

Mask country is not a mask country.

Looking at the global mask market, China is a big producer of mask, but not a powerful country. According to the statistics of medical man coffee, there are nearly 1000 manufacturers of masks in China, but the scale is generally small and the quality of products is uneven. The mask is simple and the technical difficulty is not low, especially for high-end masks. At present, there is a big gap between domestic brands and imported brands in terms of technology and marketing. For example, only 3M and Honeywell's two largest US brands occupy 90% of China's mask market, while Chinese manufacturers such as green shield, prudent and vibration have not yet built enough capacity and advantages.

What is the crux of the problem?

In view of the above crux, the author puts forward some countermeasures for the industry reference.

First of all, it is suggested that the protective products like masks and other medical products be classified as strategic materials, so that they can store grain in peacetime and not panic in wartime. CDC, hospitals and circulation enterprises all over the country should set up a certain scale stock. Ordinary people can also buy some as household reserves for rainy days.

Secondly, in order to solve the problem of high inventory cost caused by shorter masks, it is suggested that masks manufacturers should appropriately extend the validity of masks through stability study, and the drug administration departments should also give some technical guidance and policy support. At the same time, for different usage scenarios, it is suggested that different types, easily distinguishable and distinctive masks should be developed so that users can accurately understand the mask models that are most suitable for themselves. For example, for ordinary people's daily protection, reusable masks can be developed, key parameters such as disinfection methods and reusable frequency can be determined to ensure that masks are safe and effective. This will help reduce the excessive consumption of disposable masks and the risk of environmental pollution.

In addition, as a big country in the use of masks, we should strive to cultivate a number of domestic masks leading enterprises, forming five to ten brands of domestic masks with large production capacity, excellent quality and long-term reliability.

With regard to the compatibility of mask standards, the pharmaceutical supervision department has made a good demonstration, and accumulated experience in the rapid examination and approval of export products through equivalent evaluation. Such practice undoubtedly adds new ideas to deepen the reform of the medical device examination and approval system. I believe it will be reflected in the future regulation of medical devices.

Finally, we hope that the whole society can enhance the awareness of health protection, improve the production capacity, technology level and experience of health protection products, and contribute to our early defeat of the epidemic and the realization of a healthy China strategy.

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