Andhra Pradesh to use auto disable syringes for all clinical purposes from 28th July

New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh has become the first Indian state to pass an order to use Auto-Disable Syringes for all clinical purposes from 28th July 2018. The state government will also declare the State of Andhra Pradesh as “Safety Injection Use State” from World Hepatitis Day that falls on the same date.

In his comments on the development, Mr Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) has applauded the decision taken by the state government. “We applaud the initiative being taken by CM N Chandrababu Naidu of GoAP to ensure One Injection will be given from One Syringe by mandating universal usage of Auto-Disable Syringes in all clinical/therapeutic cases as part of Infection Prevention w.e.f 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 Mr Rajiv Nath who is also a Safe Point Trustee. Mr Nath has been urging PM Narendra Modi to launch a National Swachh Injection Abhiyan.

In view of Comprehensive Health Technology Assessment (HTA) report done by PGI Chandigarh on behalf of Dept of Health Research pointing out high mortality and morbidity in patients and healthcare workers due to transmission of infection of HIV, HCV and HBV, 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.

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 RoI ( Returns on Investment) was 14 dollars.

WHO has also given the directive to all Member States and Institutions to go for the mandatory use of SMART Auto-Disable Safety engineered Syringes in Healthcare System by 2020 and urged all Donor Institutions to supply only AD / RUP / 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.

India is catching up with the world where Safe Injection policies exist India consumes over 4 Billion Syringes per year of which an INCLEN study done had found nearly 60% as unsafe and 1/3 being reused. Addressing the unsafe injection practices is an important public health agenda, especially in low and middle income countries. The poor hygiene in hospitals acts as amplifier for disease as a patient gets admitted for a specific treatment but ends up getting treated for a hospital acquired infection. The reuse of medical syringes continues to be a matter of serious concern as it poses grave health risks both to the patient as well as to medical professionals in light of growing AMR (Anti Microbial Resistance) and also acts as a barrier to the Government’s resolve of eliminating these diseases by 2030.