Turkish Pharmacists Association urges citizens to wait for Health Ministry text to claim surgical masks

The Turkish Pharmacists’ Association (TEB) urged citizens to avoid trying to pick up their free surgical masks at the pharmacy before receiving a text from the Health Ministry. Citizens will need a unique code they will receive from the Health Ministry to pick up their free masks, TEB Chair Erdoğan Çolak noted.

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The Turkish Pharmacists’ Association (TEB) urged individuals to wait until they receive a text from the Health Ministry, containing a unique code, before going to pharmacies to pick up their free surgical masks April 13.

“If you haven’t received a text from the Health Ministry, you shouldn’t go to the pharmacy asking for masks,” TEB Chair Erdoğan Çolak said about the Health Ministry’s campaign to distribute surgical masks for free at pharmacies. 

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Each pharmacy will receive 500 surgical masks a day, or in proportion to the number of residents that the Health Ministry estimates will pick up their masks from a particular pharmacy. 

“At first, everyone will have the right to five masks. The system started in Ankara and Istanbul April 10. Citizens have been receiving text messages,” Çolak added. 

Once at the pharmacy with their text message from the Health Ministry, all citizens will need is their name, state identification number and the unique code from their text message, Çolak noted.

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