The practice of recycling medical equipment is not new in India. A study conducted by the India CLEN Program Evaluation Network (IPEN) in 2003-04, revealed that nearly one-fourth (23.5%) of all injections in India - the syringes and needles - were reused.
Medical waste pickers are at the receiving end and are generally made scapegoats just because they collect and sell used syringes from the hospitals and clinics. However, the real culprits are those that are involved in recycling bio-waste and buying these products in large quantities. There are any number of unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies or small scale industries that repack the syringes without sterilisation and sell them to the unsuspecting public and, possibly to hospitals as well. These hospitals are selling death to poor and illiterate people.
When contacted over the phone, one health official on condition of anonymity said, “It is true, but we are trying our best to curb this menace.” Ironically, there is no effective system to clear bio-waste. Lakhs of kilograms of such waste is produced by hospitals and in the absence of a proper system they sell or dump it in public places. If the administration does not act right away, Gujarat is staring another epidemic in the face.
Medical waste pickers are at the receiving end and are generally made scapegoats just because they collect and sell used syringes from the hospitals and clinics. However, the real culprits are those that are involved in recycling bio-waste and buying these products in large quantities. There are any number of unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies or small scale industries that repack the syringes without sterilisation and sell them to the unsuspecting public and, possibly to hospitals as well. These hospitals are selling death to poor and illiterate people.
When contacted over the phone, one health official on condition of anonymity said, “It is true, but we are trying our best to curb this menace.” Ironically, there is no effective system to clear bio-waste. Lakhs of kilograms of such waste is produced by hospitals and in the absence of a proper system they sell or dump it in public places. If the administration does not act right away, Gujarat is staring another epidemic in the face.
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