H1N1 raises hygiene levels, hand sanitisers vanish off shelves
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debeshbanerjee
Posted: Aug 22, 2009 at 0029 hrs IST
New Delhi Experts say there are signs that the first wave of H1N1 influenza pandemic is past its peak in India. But the flu sure has left an impact, as can be seen in the shortage of hand santisers in city markets.
Over the past week, demand for antiseptic hand wash has doubled and manufacturers are finding it hard to cater to the demand. “We are running out of stocks across all our pharmacies in the country,” says Jasminder Singh, regional sales manager for Himalaya Healthcare products.
Singh says the company’s sales have seen a jump of four times in Delhi. “The product is going off the shelves with increasing frequency and we have issued instructions to our processing plants to increase production,” he says.
The company also operates four pharmacies in the Delhi and NCR. There are currently three brands of hand sanitisers available in pharmacies across the Capital: Himalaya, Clarus and Disney.
A few imported brands from China and Brazil are also doing the rounds. A newly launched brand of hand sanitiser, Surya Brasil, which has been retailing in Delhi for the past three months, has seen a jump of 500 per cent in sales, say top company officials.
“Since June, our sales have increased and people have started buying the smaller travel packs more frequently, possibly due to the swine flu scare,” says Raquel Novais, brand manager, Surya Brasil.
Such is the demand-supply gap that pharmacies are turning back customers due to shortage. “There is a 70-per cent increase in demand of these sanitisers,” says Ramamoorthy, CEO, Apollo Pharmacies, which operates 75 pharmacies across Delhi.
Most sanitisers are available in 60 ml and 200 ml packs. But the buying spree is resulting in people opting for the bigger packs, meant for hospitals as well. “Earlier people would buy the travel packs (60 ml). Now we are getting requests for the bigger bottles also,” says a chemist at CRS Health Store in Saket, which is turning back customers “every day”. Manufacturers say things will begin to look up within a week. Himalaya Healthcare’s Singh says, “Mumbai and Delhi are our priorities for now.”
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