69% of the Injections at government hospitals not safe: Study

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Injections at government hospitals not safe: Study

11.08 IST 25th Aug 2004

By IndiaExpress Bureau

About 69 percent of the injections given at government hospitals

during immunization programmes are " unsafe " and contribute in

spreading diseases like AIDS, hepatitis and malaria, a study has

said.

" Majority of the injections given in government hospitals are unsafe

as per the World Health Organisation's standards and are no better

than those administered at private hospitals or by the quacks, " Dr

Hemant Kumar from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)

said at a workshop on 'unsafe injection practices' in New Delhi.

Questionable sterility, reuse of the syringe and wrong prick have

been termed as unsafe by the WHO, he said, adding " the problem of

disease spread lies with the equipment which is being used. " As high

as 77 percent people who go to quacks are likely to be affected from

blood borne virus (BBV) but the case is not much better in

government hospitals either, a study jointly being carried out by

AIIMS and World Bank, said.

Private health care facilities also do not fair exceptionally well

as about 60 percent of the syringes used there fall under " unsafe "

category, Kumar said.

The study, not yet over, was aimed at evaluating the injection

practices in the country and its effect on disease transmission and

has thrown light on the " unsafe " practices in the government

hospitals, he said at the workshop organised by an NGO - Toxics Link

recently.

Data has been collected from 84 sites across the country, which was

divided in 15 zones for the study. It would be made public within a

month, Kumar said.

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