Shafaq News / The Syndicate of Iraqi Pharmacists, Mustafa Al-Hiti, announced that the Iraqi government donated 78 tons of masks to China, this comes at a time when the Iraqi citizens seemed to suffer from the scarcity of these masks and their high prices.

"The Iraqi government donated 78 tons of masks to China, in addition to ten thousand masks that the union donated to the Ministry of Health with an official record, for distribution in airports and land ports, which contributed to a shortage," Al-Hiti said.

He added that "the masks are not imported by pharmacists or medical supplies, as they are not a pharmaceutical substance, but are imported by merchants in Shorja area , which led to their submission to the principle of supply and demand, and thus became subjected to monopoly and greed."

In turn, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Saif Al- Badr announced that a number of pharmacies and stores had been punished because of its monopoly on medical supplies to prevent corona virus.

Al-Badr said, "A joint team has been formed with the Ministry of Interior to follow up the owners of stores and pharmacies that are trying to monopolize medical supplies and sell medicines at very expensive prices," noting that "these practices fall within the economic crime that subject their perpetrators to legal accountability."

Al-Badr added, "A number of pharmacy owners and stores have already been held accountable and punitive measures have been taken against them, and the matter is still being monitored by the Ministry."

Al-Badr pointed out that "in light of the scarcity of sterile materials and masks, the Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry, produced masks from Iraqi factories to meet the needs of health institutions to distribute them on the brothels and health clinics for free."