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UAE mulls mass production of disposable syringes

DUBAI — The UAE plans to start mass production of disposable syringes targeting 20 million people worldwide as world health chiefs call for cultural changes to promote the use of safe injections.

The Middle East has the world’s worst practices with regard to injection use, where out of the 4.2 injections used per person per year, three are unsafe,” said Dr Selma Khamassi from the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) injection safety and related infection control during a meeting on the UAE Safe Injection Initiative, on Monday.

“Use of non-sterile equipment is also a common practice,” she said. “We need to change this culture and use more of disposable syringes.”

The other problems besides reuse include unsafe collection and unsafe disposal of injections leading to the spread of infectious diseases such as Hepatitis B and C as well as HIV, she added.

“This practice is common simply because 90 per cent of the countries lack funds to produce single-use syringes,” she said, adding that currently 100 pieces of auto disabling syringes were available for $5.

“We have to increase competition and lower prices to make syringes more affordable,” she said while welcoming the UAE’s initiative in this regard. “For syringes used for immunisation purposes, in some countries, the price of the syringe is higher than the vaccine,” she pointed out.

Under the initiative, the UAE plans to sell the syringes at cost price to the Unicef and UNAIDS for distribution to the developing world, a senior health official said, adding it was part of the UAE’s spirit of giving.

The UAE Safe Injection Initiative is the first such worldwide and makes the country the 18^th in the world to mass produce the most used medical device in the world. Currently, 11 factories in the UAE are producing medical devices for local use as well as export purposes.

“The idea is to provide cheap, safe and reliable medical devices to people in the developing world,” said Dr Amin Al Amiri, Executive Director for Medical Practices and Licences at the Ministry of Health, while announcing the details at a meeting also attended by representatives of WHO.

The meeting also called upon representatives of banks, airlines and pharmaceutical companies to provide financial support to the initiative.

The WHO will undertake a need analysis based on which countries requiring the syringes will be selected, he said. Details of the project will be announced during the 11^th Global Network for Injection Safety conference to be held in November.

The meeting will also discuss mechanisms to support safe use of injections under the supervision of the UAE and global companies, as well as garner support from regional countries to pay 50 per cent of the injections’ values.

Speaking on WHO injection safety, Dr Steffen Groth, Director, EHT said that 70 per cent of injections administered for therapeutic purposes were unnecessary. “WHO wants a cultural shift in this regard since majority of the injections administered are unnecessary,” he said.

Nearly 1.3 million deaths occur annually due to use of unsafe injections while 21.7 million people are infected each year, according to the WHO. Reports also indicate that around 2million Hepatitis C cases appear every year due to unsafe injections while about two per cent of HIV cases are caused by unsafe injections, especially in South Asia.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com