Ebola: ‘Mad rush’ for hand sanitisers in Abuja

On July 24, 2014, the first victim of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) on Nigerian soil – Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer – died.

On August 6, a Nigerian nurse died of the same disease.

The number of persons infected with the deadly virus in Nigeria (excluding the dead) is now eight, and the figure might rise in the days ahead.

With the gnawing reality of Ebola in the country, Nigerians in turgid panic have resorted to finding “easy” means of preventing the killer virus. One of these is the use of hand sanitisers.

Truth is, hand sanitisers before now were considered “cosmetic staples” for the debonair and hypochondriacs. However, with the new threat, Abuja residents clutching small bottles of the germicide is now a common sight at restaurants and public places.

Consequently, the high demand for hand sanitisers in the city, following the confirmation of Ebola in the country, has caused relative scarcity of the portable germicide as well as an uptick in its price, investigations have shown.

At some of the major supermarkets and pharmacies in Abuja, the products are either unavailable or their prices have juggled up.
At a popular supermarket and pharmacy, H-Medix, which is at Wuse 2, there were no hand sanitisers as of the time of writing.

“We don’t have hand sanitisers now. The products are scarce. The demand for them is very high now. You know it is because of this Ebola thing,” one of the store attendants at H-Medix told TheCable amid chuckles.

“Before, the price of some of the hand sanitisers we sell was about N300, but now we sell the small bottle  for N500.”

At the Amigo supermarket, which is in the same axis as H-Medix, the products were also unavailable.

A rotund, seemingly-busy store attendant said: “Hand sanitisers are scarce now, but we will have the products soon.

“One small bottle is N650 now; before, it was N350. Demand determines the price.”

At the Exclusive stores, another popular place where Abujalites shop, the hand sanitisers available were very few, and their price had changed significantly.

“We sell hand sanitisers for N500 now; before, we sold them for N390. The price changed because of the demand for the products. People have been buying hand sanitisers because of Ebola”, a smiling store attendant said.

At Health-Plus, a major pharmacy in heart of the city, small-sized bottles of hand sanitisers dotted the toiletry shelf with a hiked-up price.

A small-sized bottle of hand sanitiser is sold for N520 against its common price of N300. The female store attendant who did not want to disclose the former price of the product admitted that there was “mad rush” for the portable germicide, which could have influenced its price.

In the same vein, at Grand Square, a popular one-stop supermarket, a store attendant told TheCable that small-sized bottles of hand sanitisers, which were sold for N500, had all been purchased, adding that the medium-sized bottles were available.

During the visit, TheCable witnessed the rush for the products at this supermarket. Finicky customers were picking up the medium-sized hand sanitisers in twos and in fives for N950.

It is likely that as long as Ebola remains a threat to the country, Nigerians will keep buying hand sanitisers because it is “veritable agent” they believe would prevent the Ebola virus.

The Nigerian ministry of health has also advised that the use of hand sanitisers constantly is one of the ways of preventing the disease; hence, it is a field day for companies making these products.

As regards Ebola in Nigeria and the makers of hand sanitisers, the situation is simply “your pain is my gain”.