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Here
is some bad news for those specializing in the thriving recycled syringe trade.
A medical devices manufacturer has developed an ‘auto-disable’ syringe that
cannot be reused after the first use. And, to put one over the unwitting rag
picker, the syringe has a special auto-disable mechanism under which any attempt
to reuse the syringe would only lead to the breaking of the plunger.
The
device, which threatens to render the syringe recycle specialists jobless,
emerges as a significant development against the backdrop of the fact that as
many as 21 million people worldwide get infected with deadly viruses and fatal
diseases like HIV and Hepatitis B from unsafe injection practices. Even worse,
at least 13-lakh victims die every year. In the Indian context, an estimated 7.8
million people suffer from infections caused by unsafe injections practices
while 4.75-kakh of these hapless persons succumb to their infections.
“The
auto-disable syringe represents a major technological breakthrough in the
history of medical devices,” says Pradeep Sareen, general manager of Hindustan
Syringes and Medical Devices Ltd., which has come out with the device
manufactured in collaboration with U.K. firm. The auto-disable mechanism words
by locking plunger of the syringe after a dosage has been given and
automatically makes it impossible to reuse the syringe. The syringe is also
comparatively cost-effective. According to a WHO study, the cost of injection
from an auto-disable syringe is eight times cheaper than one from the
sterlisable glass syringe and six times cheaper than the one from the ordinary
disposable syringe. According to one estimate, a sum over Rs. 2,700 crore is
spent every year the world over as the medical cost on syringe-led fatal
infections and diseases. In fact, the Health Services has placed an initial
order for five-lakh pieces of these syringes for distribution to its health
centers. |
