Several barber shops in the city have been found to be flouting the official directive for barbers to wear hand gloves and face masks while attending to their customers. The Municipality recently issued the directive to all barber shops and beauty salons as a precautionary step against swine flu. Enquiries, however, revealed that very few outlets are complying with the order. “ I went to a barber shop in the Najma area last week for a haircut. I didn’t see the barbers using gloves or masks. Instead, some of them were sneezing and coughing without any precaution while attending to their customers,” said a resident. A visit to a barber shop in the Old Airport area confirmed the resident’s claim. There were three barbers on duty but none of them was wearing a mask or hand glove. Asked about the Municipality rule, a worker in the outlet said, “We have stocked some gloves and masks but we use them only when attending to customers who come with flu.” “Another reason is that some customers will consider it as an insult if we use face masks. They would think that we are treating them as swine flu patients,” he added. There seems to be a serious lack of awareness about swine flu among people working in groceries and restaurants as well. Though food handlers are required to wear hand gloves even in normal circumstance, many are not complying with this rule. The practice of packing and serving cooked food and sweets with bare hands is still prevalent in several restaurants and fast food outlets, say residents. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=September2009&file=Local_News2009092415358.xml

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