THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has asked the lone producer of surgical masks in the Philippines, MedTecs, to hike its capacity by five times to 10 million units and allocate them all locally to address requirements of government and private sectors.
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez in an interview on DZMM last Saturday said the agency has been in coordination with the Bataan-based mask manufacturer on how it can beef up supply.
Lopez said from two million units per month, MedTecs will pump up capacity to 8 million beginning April but priority allocation is given to the Department of Health and the Philippine Red Cross for health workers and a few drugstores,
“We are asking for a bigger allocation from MedTecs to provide the full capacity… in April they will produce 8 million masks per month and hopefully by May and June, to 10 million a month to be able to serve the drug stores,” Lopez told DZMM.
He urged drug stores to immediately place their purchase orders straight to MedTecs or the DTI-attached agency Philippine International Trading Corp. which will facilitate the orders.
