Injections in India found to be unsafe

Doctors have warned people travelling to India to take precautions if they need medical treatment after a report found that most injections given in the country were unsafe.

Nearly 63 per cent of the up to six billion injections administered each year in India carry some hazard to the patient, research found.

Patients are at risk of catching hepatitis or HIV, the virus that causes Aids, because medical workers are re-using needles, according to the study funded by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

UAE-based doctors say Indians returning home and tourists should ensure that fresh needles are used when they receive injections.

Dr Pankaj Shrivastav, a consultant gynaecologist, said most treatment in major cities was safe. He said in the rural areas, needles were often re-used.

"I would not expect many Indians who live in the UAE to be exposed to this type of problem when they return to India, although possibly some of the labour population would be at risk," said Dr Shrivastav, an Indian who has practised in India.

"Most injections are given in front of you, so you know what you are letting yourself in for. If people are taking the syringe out of a boiler and then using it on you, you are asking for trouble."

Dr Thaju M. Thomas, another Dubai-based practitioner, who has worked in India said: "It used to be frequent, using the same needles gain, but more recently the government has taken a lot of measures, such as supplying free needles, to reduce the problem."

The study found that of the three billion to six billion injections carried out each year in India, between 1.9 billion to 3.8 billion were unsafe. Dr N.K. Arora, who carried out the study, found that on average an Indian received 2.9 to 5.8 shots a year. About 33 per cent of these were hazardous because the syringe had been used before, the report stated.

The rest were unsafe because of "faulty administration techniques," Dr Arora said. About 74 per cent of injections administered under immunisation campaigns were unsafe, he said.

Last month, federal Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, a doctor himself, admitted that 69 per cent of injections administered in government-run hospitals were unsafe.

"In order to reduce unsafe injections, the government has taken a decision to introduce disposable syringes in all the immunisation clinics and central government hospitals from 2005," he told parliament.