Amid people having difficulties acquiring surgical masks under the government’s rationing system, the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) said it hopes that the situation will improve soon.
NHIA Director-General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) on Friday said that he did not expect the rationing system to last long, as supplies are expected to increase soon.
Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) on Thursday said that the nation was producing 3.2 million masks per day, but hoped to boost that to 4.6 million within two weeks as new equipment is installed at production facilities nationwide.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The NHIA is constantly reviewing the system and working on adding new features as needed, Lee said, but acknowledged that it had some shortcomings for foreigners who do not speak or read Chinese.
The government published a general description of how the system works in English that can be found at https://www.ntl.edu.tw/ct.asp?xItem=70081&ctNode=604&mp=2.
Under the system, 200 masks for adults and 50 masks for children are being distributed each day to NHIA-contracted pharmacies for sale to people who present their National Health Insurance card. People can buy two masks every seven days.
That has led to supplies being quickly snapped up at pharmacies, but the government has developed Web sites and mobile apps that provide real-time mask inventories for each store.
However, those apps are not available in English and Lee acknowledged that there was a real-time information gap for those who cannot read Chinese.
Su Hsiu-jung (蘇秀蓉), who runs Shang-i Pharmacy, said that the system was initially confusing for everyone.
The government-distributed masks are delivered on a daily basis, Su said, adding that she has to work for two hours before her store opens at 9am on weekdays to divide the 250 masks into small packages.
On weekends, she distributes the masks starting at 3pm, she said.
Since the system launched on Thursday, her customers have had to wait for at least 40 minutes to get a “queue card,” and they were the lucky ones, she added.
About 40 to 50 customers have been unable to get the cards, Su aid, adding that she spends much of her time explaining how the system works and providing instructions.
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