Barbers: scissors, razors and a whole lot of diseases

Hairdressing salons play a vital role of providing grooming services such as haircuts and shaves for men, but unfortunately, most barbers do not follow safety standards set by the government. Due to contaminated and unhygienic conditions, most of the barbershops in the city have become breeding hubs for germs, bacteria and diseases.
Because of unhygienic conditions at hair dressers’ shops, many people contract various diseases and infections. It was observed that a good number of barber shops on pedestrian pathways were using substandard instruments and shaving and after shave products due to the negligence of local authorities, including the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration. Mostly poor and uninformed people visit such barber shops without knowing the potential risks to their health.
The main reason for the increasing number of these roadside barber shops and the conditions found there is the CDA’s failure to implement its municipal bylaws, which leaves these grooming stalls free to operate unhindered without any proper license or No Objection Certificate (NOC) issued by the authorities. Most of the barber shops in the capital, including the ones in Faizabad, Aabpara, Melody and Bara Kahu, are running without licences and do not follow safety standards owing to the city manager’s negligence. Barbers working in these shops are not properly informed about these safety standards and continue performing their chores without following rules and regulation issued by the CDA heath directorate.
A CDA official said they had recently amended the municipal bylaws and declared hair dressers, barbers and beauty parlors as licenced trades.
“Under the municipal bylaws, these traders will be bound to collect necessary licences issued by the CDA Directorate of Municipal Administration (DMA) before starting such businesses”, he added.
He said traders would also obtain an NOC from the health directorate of CDA, verifying that no employees of the business have Hepatitis B, C or HIV/ AIDs virus. Under the CDA rules, every barber would regularly sterilise equipment and would not use the same blade and towel repeatedly. Due to a shortage of CDA health directorate inspectors, these rules have not yet been implemented, he said.
Dr Waseem Khawaja, a senior doctor at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), said a number of patients were suffering from skin diseases because of the use of contaminated equipment. HIV/AIDS spreads through unscreened blood transfusion, reuse of used syringes, unsafe sexual behaviour and through the use of used razors and needles mainly amongst drug addicts. There was a dire need to create awareness of the disease, especially amongst youths for their protection. He said barbers should wash their hands with soap before and after attending a client with an approved hand disinfectant.
CDA health directorate’s Dr Hassan Arooj said CDA inspectors regularly conducted visits of markets and checked the hygienic conditions at barber shops and educated barbers about hygiene standards. The directorate also conducted Hepatitis C, Hepatitis B and HIV/AIDS tests for barbers. The employees found suffering from hepatitis are advised to get proper treatment.
He said inspectors also checked whether barbers sterilised their equipment and took action against those who did not do so, or who used the same towel and blade continuously. “These barbers are advised by the CDA to regularly sterilise their instruments,” he added.