Khawar Kamal, Ahmed Khan.
Re-use of disposable syringes in private health care facilities of Rawalpindi.
Pak Armed Forces Med J Jan ;53(2):234-8.

One of the main factors, which are commonly implicated in the rapid increase in the incidence and spread of infectious diseases like hepatitis B,C and HIV, is the re-use of disposable syringes and their improper disposal. Awareness regarding the known and potential hazards of re-use of disposable syringes has increased in the recent years, as almost every one either has a relative, dear one or somebody they know suffering from hepatitis B or hepatitis C. To assess the existing situation regarding re-use of disposable syringes in private health care facilities of Rawalpindi, a descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in Rawalpindi Cantonment. The study was carried out in three different categories of private health care facilities comprising of general practice clinics, uni-speciality clinics and polyclinic hospitals/private nursing homes. Two hundred injection event were observed for safe injection practices. Fifty health care providers were interviewed for their knowledge and attitude towards the safe injection practices. We had to intervene to prevent potential harm if we were about to witness injection practices that were of particular danger to the injection recipients e.g re-use of disposable syringes and needles. The results of the study depicted not an encouraging picture and on 48 (24%) occasions, there was re-use of disposable syringes observed in injection administering practices. Only 50% of the providers wash their hands before giving injection. The proportion of reuse of disposable syringes is very high and most of the health care provider are unaware about the consequences of reuse of disposable syringes. Majority of the providers do not adopt safe injection protocol. Therefore a multidisciplinary and holistic approach is needed to deal with this menace of the re-use of disposable syringes and unsafe injection practices in our country.

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