As the WHO has suggested use of disposable and auto-disable syringes to collect blood samples of Covid 19 patients, with an aim to avoid the transmission through healthcare equipment, manufacturers of disposable syringes are anticipating increase in demand once the vaccine for the virus is developed.
At least nine out of 142 vaccines being developed across the world, including three from India, are in advanced stages of trials, targeting to have at least a few vaccines in the market by year end.
For instance, Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices (HMD), one of the largest global manufacturers of disposable and auto-disabled (AD) syringes, is scaling up its production capacity by 300 million to one billion by the first half of 2021 from the current 700 million syringes a year, as India is getting ready for COVID-19 vaccine immunization, said Rajiv Nath, Managing Director of the HMD.
He explained that at least 60 to 70 per cent of 1.3 billion people in India and 7.8 billion people worldwide will need syringes for Covid-19 vaccine.
“We are waiting on the Government to start creating a stockpile of syringes as being done by other countries. Should the government need 100 million auto-disable syringes for Covid-19 vaccines by the end of this year, we can easily offer them as we have nearly 50 million in stock, as the Government has not timely lifted orders for standard immunisation injection campaigns which were suspended after onset of Covid-19,” said Nath.
The HMD has received orders from UNICEF to supply AD syringes for around 300 million to build up a stockpile of around 140 million syringes for Covid-19 by the end of the year. It is one of the largest suppliers to Unicef for Auto Disable syringes for immunisation and is the first company in India to manufacture auto disable syringes for curative segment.
However, Nath expressed his apprehension that while it’s an opportunity it also makes them nervous.”In past we did gear up to produce these as the largest manufacturer in world for AD Syringes only to find the Government buying from China at L1 rates and expected us to match these non remunerative rates. This product is like making traffic red-light, only Govt. buys red lights for traffic management and if they don’t, you have no market in private sector,” rued Nath.