The Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI) has asked the government to vaccinate the employees of manufacturing and service industries and trading companies as a matter of priority.

The Industrial sector is facing numerous challenges amidst the COVID-19 pandemic as companies have been dealing with shutdowns, limited operations and other disruptions for more than a year now, CNCI Chairman Canisius Fernando said.

As vaccines begin to roll out with receipt of a considerable quantity of 3.1 million doses of Sinopharm, industrial sector employees deserve to be given priority for their active and risk taking contribution to keep the essential products and services moving uninterruptedly amidst numerous hardships to maintain the socio-economic well-being during this period, he said in a statement.

A sizable quantity of employees in the industrial sector have already taken the first dose of the AstraZenica Covisheild vaccine and are awaiting the second dose, which is overdue for more than a month, he pointed out.

While extending his profound gratitude on behalf of the CNCI to the medical and health care professionals, the COVID-19 task force and officers of all other government institutions involved in the frontline and indirect operations to contain the spreading of the virus, Fernando asked the government authorities to consider industry employees as a priority segment in the Covid-19 vaccination program.

He appreciated the government’s concern in ensuring a sustainable economy and the support extended to keep the industries moving amidst all constraints.

“Today the industries, especially those related to export processing and manufacturing of essential products and services, have been uninterruptedly in operation with limited employees. However, many companies in the manufacturing sector are in a dilemma at this critical period due to rising overhead costs against lesser or no output”.

The companies in operation have to incur a huge cost to get a percentage of their employees PCR tested weekly. The cost of employee transport has doubled. The scale of production has been drastically reduced due to maintenance of social distancing on the work floor, he noted.

On the other hand, it is not possible for manufacturing companies to let the employees “work from home” as the manufacturing processes are labour intensive, unlike in some industries which are highly automated, Fernando continued.

Freight coasts have gone up more than 40% due to the global impact of the pandemic on the shipping industry. The situation has aggravated due to the government approval process in disposing industry waste. The final outcome is the high cost of production which leads to an increase in the cost to consumers while exporters becoming uncompetitive, the CNCI Chairman further said.

Employees working in industrial settings are vulnerable and highly susceptible to contract the virus and rapidly spread it even if one among them gets infected. The speed of the spread among their colleagues will be very high due to the interconnected operations in any industry. This situation will pose a high risk to maintain productivity and support the country’s economy, he opined.

“Similarly, the employees will be discouraged to report for duty, ultimately creating a shortage of essential goods in the market. We believe the possible adverse effects that could be brought to the socio-economic life with such jeopardy need not be over emphasized”.

Considering all these factors, the CNCI Chairman asked the government to make immediate arrangements to vaccinate industrial sector employees, especially those in the manufacturing and service industries and trading companies as a matter of priority.