63 p.c. of injections unsafe, says study

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63 p.c. of injections unsafe, says study

Arunkumar Bhatt

MUMBAI: Of the 300 crore-600 crore injections administered in India

every year, 63 per cent are unsafe and about one-third of them carry

the risk of transmitting blood-borne viruses, including HIV.

Still worse, the unsafe injections surpass the global proportion and

a large number of injections are unnecessary, administered for

common ailments such as fever, cough and diarrhoea, says a study

conducted by the Indian Clinical Epidemiology Network (IndiaCLEN)

and the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. It was

presented at a session of the Global Forum for Health Research here.

WHO study

The World Health Organisation estimates that of the 1,200 crore-

1,600 crore injections administered in the world every year, at

least 50 per cent are unsafe, particularly in the developing

countries.

While 82.7 per cent of injections in India are administered for

curative reasons, 17.5 per cent are for vaccination. While 68.7 per

cent injections were unsafe in government health facilities, 59.9

per cent were dangerous in private clinics and hospitals.

The study classifies an injection as unsafe if it has the potential

to transmit blood-borne viruses and/or it is administered faultily,

which can cause local infection and/or reaction. The study found

53.1 per cent injections dangerous because of faulty technique and

73 per cent of them were unsafe because of the use of glass syringe.

This made 62.9 per cent of the injections unsafe.

The rural sector accounted for a higher percentage of unsafe

injections, 65.9 compared to urban areas, 54.9. Safety is higher

with plastic syringes. The odds of an injection being unsafe are 12

times higher with glass syringes. Written guidelines for

sterilisation are available at only 10.1 per cent of all health

facilities in the country. Over half of the doctors and those who

prescribe injections do not know the correct sterilisation process.

Only 84.2 per cent of the government health facilities have

sterilisation equipment. Only 76.9 per cent immunisation centres and

57.7 per cent private clinics use sterilisation equipment.

Over three-fourths or 75.9 per cent of the available sterilisation

equipment are functional.

http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/18/stories/2005091800241100.htm