The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Sunday that it has received dozens of complaints from medical institutions that the alcohol-based sanitizers sent to them did not have a high enough alcohol content.
The medical centers were not given the option to choose what sanitizers they received until the middle of this month.
The ministry acted as an intermediary in March and April between suppliers of the hard-to-find sanitizers and medical centers. Normally, the alcohol-based sanitizer that is used when performing surgery, for example, has an alcohol content percentage of 70% to 80%. However, there were instances of sanitizers with only 50% alcohol content being sent out.
"We had informed local governments and medical associations that due to this being an emergency, there would be discrepancies in the alcohol content and the prices, but it would appear our message was not completely received," said an official from the ministry.
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