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In
India, nearly 7.8 million people suffer from infections caused by unsafe
infection practices. Apart from this, 4.75 lakh people die annually due to these
infections. This alarming data was presented during a talk on safe injection
practices, on Wednesday, during the launch of ‘auto disable’ syringe, Kojak
Selinge in the city.
Speaking on the occasion, former director of health services, Punjab, Dr PS
Bassi, said infected injection were one of the main causes of spread of
hepatitis and Aids in India. He added, infected syringes caused 6.25 million
hepatitis C cases and 8,600 HIV cases in the country.
Deputy
Director of Aids Control society, SP Singla, said all injectable vaccines,
including that for hepatitis B, should be administered with auto destruct
syringes. Even the Centre has passed the rule supporting the use of auto
destruct syringes, he said. Assistant director, Punjab Family Welfare, Dr VK
Goel, also said the cycle of reuse, which starts from rag pickers and goes on to
those who cycle plastic, has to be stopped. “Syringes are not disinfected and
when this plastic is recycled, risk of infection still remains,” he said.
General manager of Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices, Pradeep Sareen, said
the company is launching the first auto disable syringes in view of the recent
instructions from the Centre to use auto destruct syringes in vaccination
programmes.
The auto disable mechanism in these syringes works by locking the plunger of the
syringe after a dose has been administered. However, the needle still needs to
be broken manually. Sareen said the next step will be introduction of syringes
with self destruct needles. |
