uday
January 24th, 2005, 11:45 AM
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1211594,0050.htm
A shocking 62.9 per cent of injections administered in India are unsafe and the risk of spreading blood-borne viruses due to unsafe injection equipment is 32 per cent, a new study has said.
According to the findings of a nationwide study by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to assess injection practices, an Indian on average received 2.9 to 5.8 injections a year, with almost every other prescription (48.1 per cent) consisting of an injection.
"Approximately three to six billion injections are administered in the country every year, of which 1.9 to 3.8 billion injections are unsafe," said NK Arora, who was part of the India CLEN Programme Evaluation Network (IPEN) that did the survey.
"Safety is the least in immunisation clinics," Arora said in a paper published by him.
As part of IPEN, the country was divided into 15 zones, and clusters were drawn from urban and rural areas separately.
According to the findings, there were no major differences in the number of injections between urban and rural populations, but a large proportion of the injections were unnecessary.
Almost three-fourths (74 per cent) of injections administered in the immunisation sector were unsafe, the study said, with the risk of spread of blood-borne viruses due to unsafe equipment being 32 per cent.
A shocking 62.9 per cent of injections administered in India are unsafe and the risk of spreading blood-borne viruses due to unsafe injection equipment is 32 per cent, a new study has said.
According to the findings of a nationwide study by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to assess injection practices, an Indian on average received 2.9 to 5.8 injections a year, with almost every other prescription (48.1 per cent) consisting of an injection.
"Approximately three to six billion injections are administered in the country every year, of which 1.9 to 3.8 billion injections are unsafe," said NK Arora, who was part of the India CLEN Programme Evaluation Network (IPEN) that did the survey.
"Safety is the least in immunisation clinics," Arora said in a paper published by him.
As part of IPEN, the country was divided into 15 zones, and clusters were drawn from urban and rural areas separately.
According to the findings, there were no major differences in the number of injections between urban and rural populations, but a large proportion of the injections were unnecessary.
Almost three-fourths (74 per cent) of injections administered in the immunisation sector were unsafe, the study said, with the risk of spread of blood-borne viruses due to unsafe equipment being 32 per cent.