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Reacting to the common (illegal) practice or re-using disposable syringes by
various doctors and paramedic personnel, the World Health Organisation has
directed that health providers shift to using non-reusable “auto-disable”
syringes by December 2003.
Giving
this information at the launch of their ‘Kojak Selinge’, an auto-disable
syringe, Pradeep Sareen, general manager, Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices
Ltd., said that these were so designed that any attempt to reuse the syringe
leads to breaking of the plunger. The HMD, which produces the well-known brand
of syringes ‘Disovan’, is investing Rs. 100 crores to upgrade their
manufacturing facilities for a possible shift in the market to these
auto-disable syringes.
Welcoming the introduction of this non-reusable syringe, R.S. Rama Devi,
Director of Medical Education, AP, said that Government had already made their
use compulsory in all immunization drives in the state. She added that it would
be a good move to make them mandatory in all medical procedures involving
injections. She cautioned that it was necessary to spread public awareness about
the dangers posed by reuse of syringes for injections.
Estimates showed that about 7.8 million people in India were infected by
HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C viruses due to unsafe infection practices, of whom
4.75 lakhs may die every year. The programme for Appropriate Technology in
Health, Rajkumar, said that two out of every three infections administered were
injections administered were unnecessary and this practices of over-injection
was partly due to the misconception among many people that their treatment was
incomplete unless the doctor gave them an injection.
He
said that along with popularization of non-reusable injection syringe, reduction
in the number of injections and the proper disposal of bio-medical waste were
necessary components of a safe injection policy. Others who spoke at the event
were Y.C. Mathur, president, Indian association of Paediatrics, who called upon
the medical fraternity to pledge to use only non-reusable syringes, and Satish,
of PATH. |
