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The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has intensified its public education on the specifications and registration requirements for home-made nose masks in the fight against the COVID-19.

It said it was also doing more education to sensitize the public on what to look out for when they go to buy the nose masks.

Mr Albert Ankomah, the Upper West Regional Head for the FDA, said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Wa.

He said it was necessary to educate the producers of the nose masks on the FDA requirements as some of them did not know the requirements to adhere to.

“Per the Public Health Act 2012, once your product is not registered, it is illegal, but the FDA is currently educating the public to comply with the requirements for registration of the home-made nose masks”, he said.

He explained that as part of the education, his outfit had met with the leadership of the Ghana Tailors and Dressmakers Association in the region to sensitize them on the need to follow the FDA requirements to produce safe and quality home-made nose masks for public use.

Mr Ankomah noted that as part of the specifications, people who wished to produce the home-made nose masks and sell to the public must register with the FDA before they could do so.

He, thus, entreated the general public and any person who would want to produce home-made nose masks to follow the FDA specification to effectively fight against the COVID-19.

He said, currently, about 147 companies have registered to produce the nose masks in Ghana, but there was no individual or a group in the region who had registered to produce the home-made nose masks.

The FDA Regional Head explained that producers were required to pay annual registration fees of GH₵250.00 while those producing for non-commercial purposes were also required to pay listing fees of GH₵150.00.

Mr Ankomah added that registration requirements included submission of twelve samples of the home-made nose masks with specifications of three layers of Calico-Stiff (hard/medium)-Calico or Calico-Calico-Calico, application letter and completed application form for Class One Medical Device.
“Face or nose mask should cover the nose, mouth and chin area with a three-layer thickness of not less than 0.759mm”, Mr Ankomah explained.

He also urged the public to buy registered and quality nose masks, which were effective in fighting the deadly COVID-19.

Mr Ankomah said buyers should look out for the three-layer Calico-Stiff (hard/medium)-Calico or Calico-Calico-Calico when purchasing the home-made nose masks.

Mr Ankomah said reducing the spread of the CVID-19 was paramount and that the FDA led by its Chief Executive, Mrs Delese A. A Darko had intensified public sensitization on the specification for production and use of the home-made nose masks.