Medical practitioner Dr Aaron Mujajati has advised the Ministry of Health to sensitize citizens on the correct way to use and make face masks.
In an interview, Dr Mujajati said there was need to provide specifications on the type of home-made masks which were acceptable.
“Home-made masks, are they using the same material that people are using to make the other medical masks? That’s the question, it’s not just about putting a piece of cloth. So I think we need to have a clear look at the type of cloth people are using, is it any cloth? The problem is that you see, my concern there is that it’s not enough for us to tell people to wear masks, it’s also important that we teach them how to wear them and what type of material they should be using. And it’s counterproductive because remember that to wear a mask, it’s actually a procedure that you are taught in medical school, there are safety rules on how to wear a mask. So if we are going to just tell people “wear a mask” and we are not teaching them how to wear it, how to dispose it and how to handle yourself when on a mask because the things we see on tv with people putting a mask around their neck, where are people getting that from?,” he wondered
“So for me, those are some of my concerns that if we are going to tell people to wear masks then let’s give people the full information, don’t just tell people wear a mask but the thing is that how do you wear a mask? How do you behave when you are wearing a mask? How long should you wear a mask? When do you take it off? How do you take it off and where do you dispose it? Because the presupposition is that by the time you are taking off a mask, it is infected.”
Dr Mujajati emphasized the need to take infection prevention steps when taking off masks.
“So when you are wearing a mask, as you are taking it off, the assumption is that it is infected so you need to take infection prevention steps to remove a mask, you don’t just touch it anyhow and remove it anyhow and throw it anyhow, anywhere like what I am beginning to see now on the streets, I see masks lying around. I don’t know really, the advocates for wearing masks need to go further and tell people the right way to wear masks, that’s my take,” said Dr Mujajati.
