New Delhi: Pakistan has a new public health deadline. Reusable syringes will no longer be used after November 30, which is one of the main causes of blood-borne diseases. This is a major breakthrough in an industry affected by the unsanitary use of syringes and quacks. Pakistan will now completely switch to self-destructing syringes.
In a commentary in the “Dawn”, former Prime Minister’s Special Assistant to Health Zafar Mirza said that since the 1980s, Pakistan has been suffering from blood-borne infections such as HIV/AIDS and B and C infections. Hepatitis has caused people to see repeated use of syringes. Tighter scrutiny.
“Syringes used for injections of patients with blood-borne diseases, if they are not properly disinfected and used again in another patient, may introduce the virus from the previous patient to the new patient. In various environments, especially in low-income and middle-income In income countries, people have discovered time and time again that repeated use of contaminated syringes can cause blood-borne disease outbreaks,” Mirza added.
Also read: The government imposes quantitative restrictions on the export of three types of syringes to promote domestic production
For decades, reusing syringes has been a global health and public health problem, dating back to 1986, when the World Health Organization proposed the development of automatic destruction or automatic disabling of syringes. A year later, a WHO team considered 35 responses to the request, but by the turn of the century, only four models of automatic destruction syringes were in production.
However, more than 20 years later, supply chain bottlenecks during the launch of the global Covid-19 vaccine have led to renewed attention to self-destructing syringes. In February this year, UNICEF emphasized its importance and proper health and safety protocols as part of its goals. It is to purchase 1 billion syringes by the end of the year.
Much like Pakistan, India also faces the problem of reusing a large number of syringes. In recent years, the country has set a goal of shifting from reusable syringes to self-destructing syringes by 2020.
Mirza of Pakistan further explained that it is impossible to reuse the self-destructing syringe because its plunger will lock after the drug is injected into the patient’s body by injection, so that attempting to remove the plunger will damage the syringe.
The news reported in Zafar Mirza’s review article will represent a major breakthrough in Pakistan’s healthcare sector-the sector was recently affected by the insanitary re-use of syringes by quack doctors in 2019, when the Larkana district of Sindh experienced nearly 900 Human HIV outbreaks, most of them are children, who have tested positive. By June of this year, this number had increased to 1,500.
“According to the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), there are currently more than 600,000 scammers in the country, and there are more than 80,000 in Punjab alone… Clinics run by qualified doctors are actually in poor condition and ultimately cause more harm than good. However, People tend to go to these places because the doctors there charge lower fees for their services and syringes,” reporter Shahab Omer wrote for Pakistan Today earlier this year.
Omer provided more information on the business background behind the widespread reuse of syringes in Pakistan, which imports 450 million syringes each year and produces nearly 800 million syringes at the same time.
According to Mirza, so many syringes can be attributed to the lack of supervision and the irrational belief of some Pakistani doctors that “any minor illness needs injection”.
According to Omer, although the import and manufacture of old technology syringes will be banned from April 1, the entry of self-destructing syringes will mean a potential loss of income for wholesalers of cheaper old technology syringes.
However, Mirza wrote that the Imran Khan government played a role in facilitating the conversion, “by exempting manufacturers and importers from tariffs and sales taxes on AD syringes.”
“The good news is that of the current 16 syringe manufacturers in Pakistan, 9 have converted to AD syringes or have obtained molds. The rest are being processed,” Mirza added.
Mirza’s article received a mild but positive response, and Liming’s English readers in Pakistan expressed gratitude and joy at the news.
“An extremely important measure to curb the spread of blood-borne infections. We must remember that the quality of a policy depends on its implementation, including efforts to raise awareness and monitoring,” said Shifa Habib, a health researcher.
An extremely important measure to curb the spread of blood-borne infections. We must remember that the quality of the policy depends on its implementation, including efforts to raise awareness and supervision. https://t.co/VxrShAr9S4
“Dr. Zafar Mirza firmly decided to implement AD syringes, because the abuse of syringes has increased the prevalence of hepatitis and HIV, and we are unlikely to have another HIV outbreak like Lacana in 2019,” wrote user Omer Ahmed.
Having been in the syringe import business for 27 years, I would like to share my experience in switching to AD syringes initiated when Dr. Zafar Mirza served as SAPM on Health. I admit that I was worried at first, instead of deciding to switch to AD injectors, https://t.co/QvXNL5XCuE
However, not everyone believes it, because some people on social media are also quite skeptical of this news.
Facebook user Zahid Malik commented on this article, saying the issue was misguided. “Has anyone studied the problem that a syringe does not contain bacteria or viruses, it is a needle. The needle is made of stainless steel and can be chemically or thermally sterilized, so doctors/quacks who don’t have/use enough sterilizing equipment should stop practicing,” he said.
“Although the deadline is November 30, from the field point of view, it seems that it will take a long time to achieve the goal,” another user said.
Sikandar Khan from Beishwar commented on this article on Facebook: “The AD syringe produced here does not meet international standards and I think it can be reused.”
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