Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) has applauded the Andhra Pradesh government for becoming the first Indian state to pass an order to use auto-disable syringes for all clinical purposes and to declare the state of Andhra Pradesh as “Safety Injection Use State” from World Hepatitis Day on July 28, 2018.
“We applaud the initiative being taken by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to ensure tht one Injection will be given from one syringe by mandating universal usage of auto disable syringes in all clinical or therapeutic cases as part of infection prevention with effect from World Hepatitis Day. We urge the Central government and other progressive states to follow the lead taken by Andhra Government in healthcare system strengthening and lowering burden of infections by breaking the cycle of cross infection let there be no more Unnao, no more Modasa type tragedies in India”, said Rajiv Nath, Trustee, Safe Point.
In view of Comprehensive Health Technology Assessment (HTA) report done by PGI Chandigarh on behalf of Department of Health Research (DHR) pointing out high mortality and morbidity in patients and healthcare workers due to transmission of infection of HIV, HCV and HBs, and the cost effectiveness of auto disable syringes, the Andhra Government has decided to make usage of AD syringes mandatory for all clinical purposes, the State Government order said.
“By deciding to become ‘ Safety Injection Use State’, Andhra Pradesh has become the first State in India to have implemented this important initiative. Incidentally when Auto Disable Syringes were introduced in the mass Immunisation campaign in India Andhra Pradesh under progressive leadership of CM Naidu was the first state to introduce this before Central Govt decided to make it mandatory for all Immunisation Injections. Immunisation Injections however account for only 10 % to 15% of all Injections. Bulk of injections are used for clinical therapeutic use. Central Government should now consider to convert advisories to definitive directives on this issue to all central government and state government public health facilities,” Nath said adding injection safety is must to control spread of Blood Borne Infections (BBIs).
The biggest global campaign for use of safe injection practice came early in 2015 when WHO Director General Margaret Chen flagged off the biggest Global initiative since Polio Eradication and Hand Wash Campaign called "Global Health Initiative on Injection Safety" and chose India, Egypt and Uganda as the focus Countries to spearhead the Campaign. WHO had stated that for every dollar invested in Injections Safety the Returns on Investment (RoI) was 14 dollars. WHO has given directive to all member states and institutions to go for mandatory use of SMART auto-disable safety engineered syringes in healthcare system by 2020 and urged all donor institutions to supply only auto-disable syringes, re-use prevention (RUP) syringes or WHO per-qualified sharps injury prevention featured (SIP) syringes henceforth in their campaigns depending upon local manufacturing capacity and availability and affordability.
Many countries including USA, EU, Canada and Japan have already adopted Safety Engineered Syringes (SES) said Dr HS Ratti, Advisor to Safe Point and an Army trained epidemiologist.
In the Health Technology Assessment report by PGIMER, Chandigarh based on pilot project initiated by WHO in Punjab which has the highest population of hepatitis infected patients on Cost Effectiveness of Safety Engineered Syringes for Therapeutic Use in India, 2017-18 pointed out that 33% of Hepatitis B and 42% of Hepatitis C the world over is attributable to unsafe injections in developing countries, making it a serious health hazard.