RIYADH: With Saudi Arabia on high alert to prevent the spread of swine flu the Riyadh municipality has intensified its own health campaign and made it mandatory for over 25,000 barbers working in 8,000 salons to wear face masks.
“An announcement of this plan was made earlier, but now the mask has been made mandatory to check the spread of the pandemic,” said Soliman Al-Buthi, general manager of the environmental health department at the Riyadh municipality.
A large number of pilgrims from Riyadh perform Haj every year and the city receives hundreds of thousands of visitors who also perform Haj or Umrah. “Hence, we took new precautions and have redoubled the efforts to check the spread of the H1N1 virus,” Al-Buthi said.
He explained that barbers had been given training on how to wear face masks and how to handle disposable razors and aprons. The municipality has hired 40 officers to conduct inspections of the salons in the city. Barbers and hairdressers who violate the regulations will face fines ranging from SR500 to SR2,000, he added. People are encouraged to call 940 to report violations or unhealthy practices.
Al-Buthi said that public health workers who work under the municipality’s direct supervision would be required to obtain employment certificates yearly or biannually from the health department of the Riyadh municipality. These certificates are issued free of charge to a worker who produces a health certificate, a sponsor’s letter and a valid iqama.
This is mandatory for all workers in the food and beverage sector, he added. In addition, Riyadh municipality is preparing a system to rank restaurants and fast food chains based on the quality of service and food. He said that the system had been devised because of deteriorating service standards in the city.
Moreover, samples of food and drinks are regularly tested in the laboratories to ensure the quality of food items. He pointed out that a number of restaurants were recently closed for violating standards.
