Expert Blogs

Disposal of syringes, needles, used bandages, broken equipment and many other items of medical waste remains a challenge in most countries.· The first priority is to dispose of the used equipment where it will do no harm¹ to anyone who happens to come into contact with it.· Throwing out used syringes without being enclosed in a secure safety box and proper disposal of the safety boxes (which is not easy), means that they often end up on an open dump.· Here, there is often someone with a significant incentive to look for anything that can be re-sold – including used syringes.· One study in India showed that rag pickers (people who scavenge rubbish dumps for anything that can be re-sold) receive on average five needle sticks each day from syringes and needles that they are collecting to recycle.· Auto-disable syringes can’t of course be re-used and therefore have no re-sale value back into the medical services either formal or informal.· What about the health rag pickers however?· They are exposed to hepatitis B, HIV, and tetanus infections and who know what else from the needle sticks.