Staff Reporter
Lahore
The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), following an order of the National Health Services minister, has asked the importers to import only auto disable syringes instead of conventional disposable syringes to counter the rising threat of Hepatitis, HIV, AIDS and other contagious diseases in the country.
According to a notification, DRAP, in pursuance of implementation of the National Action Plan to address the issue of unsafe injections in Pakistan, decided to replace disposable syringes with auto disable syringes.
According to officials, Pakistan has high prevalence of hepatitis C and HIV infections, with the highest number of injection use, which is between 8 to 10 injections per person annually, and approximately 95 per cent of those are given unnecessarily. With regard to the HIV AIDS outbreak in Taluka Rattodero, district Larkana last year, the investigation revealed that one of the leading causes was the reuse or misuse of conventional disposable syringes.
To safeguard the public from the menace, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination constituted a National Task Force on the injection safety. The Ministry of National Health Services has decided that Sept 30, 2020 will be the final deadline for import of conventional disposable syringes.
