Minister notifies Parliament: Precautions to curb unsafe medical syringes in the market

New Delhi: Responding to a query raised in Rajya Sabha, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed the parliament about the precautions taken by the government to curb the arrival of unsafe medical syringes in the Indian market. The query was raised by Shri Mohd. Ali Khan in response to media reports that the medical syringes that are declared as dangerous and unsafe for use by UK's National Health Services are being used in India.

The query was accentuated based on the reports published by a number of dailies in the matter. Earlier Medical Dialogues had reported, Syringes declared unsafe for use by the UK's state-funded National Health Service (NHS) found their way to India and are likely to have been used in some hospitals in the country, quoted a media report.

According to 'The Sunday Times', banned Graseby syringe drivers were given to hospices and medical organizations in countries such as India, South Africa and Nepal. It followed the phased withdrawal of the devices from the NHS in 2010 following safety alerts dating back as far as 1995.

The devices have also been banned elsewhere, including in New Zealand and Australia, but remained in use in the NHS until 2015.

Based on the media report, the above query was addressed by the minister. In response to which he said the CDSCO has not received any report in this regard earlier. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regulates the safety, efficacy and quality of 23 categories of medical devices under the provisions of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 1945 made thereunder.

Also Read: UK's unsafe syringes found their way to Indian hospitals: Report