Injection Policy and AIDS: Promote the use of glass syringes

[Guest guest]

Dear Group Members,

I am a retired Med professional. I

retired recently from the Air Force, and the last post i held was the Dir

Gen Med Services of the Air Force. I have been active in the field of

Hospital Waste Management and Solid Waste Management. Re entry of plastic

syringes (without dysinfection) is a big problem. This by itself may be

cause of spread of many diseases including AIDS.

Recently the WHO have decided to urge

the Govt to go in for mass scale immunisation against Hep B & C which will

generate a very large number of plastic syringe waste. For this purpose the

plan is to use one-time use syringes which will lock the plunger in the

lumen of the syringe. This will make the task of shredding more difficult as

there will always be a danger of aerosolisation, unless the shredding

machine is of the type which maintains negative pressure. At the same time

these syringes cannot be subjected to incineration without causing Env

pollution.

The best solution therefore appears to go in for glass syringes.

At least one will be sure that the syringe being used has been dysinfected,

and at the same time there will be no waste for disposal. It may be noted

that the average number of waste syringes so generated may be in billions

per month.

Can I have your views?

Air Mshl L K Verma

E-mail: <laljee@...>

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