HMD achieves production capacity of over 1 billion AD syringes per year for Covid vaccination

New Delhi: Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices Ltd (HMD) has achieved their target committed to create capacities to produce over 1 Billion AD syringes for Covid vaccination per year to support the massive vaccination campaign to eradicate Covid-19. It has also achieved milestone of producing over 1 crore pieces of assorted size of syringes daily.

Mr. Rajiv Nath, Managing Director, HMD said “Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ was the centerpiece of PM Narendra Modi’s Independence Day address last year and this year on India’s 75th Independence Day, we are delighted that HMD has simultaneously reached two significant milestones towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat. HMD’s top priorities right now is to help the Govt. to combat the pandemic. HMD had been ensuring continuity of supply chain and its manufacturing plants to ensure no shortages in India in India for its critically needed disposable devices during the Covid crisis.HMD remains dedicated to its constant endeavor to introduce affordable new and advanced products that not just ensure patient safety but also the safety of healthcare professionals.”

HMD has made India proud with its global recognition as a key international supplier of critically needed syringes to COVAX facility of WHO (via UNICEF) , Brazil and even Japan for Covid Vaccination while being on track & timely supplying the 4 orders received from GoI on 0.5 ml AD syringes totaling 44.25 Crore pcs of which 36.5 Crore pcs has been timely supplied by July end to help in vaccinating India against Covid and balance by September .

Last year in December, HMD has also already dispatched 14 Crore AD syringes to the COVAX stockpile Facility created in anticipation for supporting global worldwide Vaccination Drive.

“This is in addition to our ongoing global contractual commitments to support global vaccination projects for 0.1ml & 0.5 ml AD Kojak syringes in developing world whether for Yellow Fever or Measles or Hepatitis B or Pentavalent or BCG etc in addition to Covid vaccination requirements of 0.3ml AD syringes for Pfizer’s vaccines. However this year our focus is India as our countrys’ needs come 1^st. We have reserved over 2/3^rd capacity for India and continue to decline orders from many overseas new potential buyers” said Mr. Rajiv Nath.

From 50 Crore pcs per annum capacity of 0.5 ml AD Syringes in June 2020, we increased production rate to 80 Crore per annum in May 2021 & currently we have achieved our target capacity of producing 100 Crore AD Syringes & next hopefully125 Crore pcs per annum by March 2022, for this one size alone. 0.5ml is the size sought by Public Healthcare in India and most countries for Covid. For Private Healthcare the Dispovan Disposable Syringes are still popular but we started to see a shift by the progressive hospitals (who wish to assure their patients of higher injection safety) for auto disable syringes that ensure One Injection One Syringe.

HMD also overcame the challenge of acute shortages of manpower during the 2^nd wave, to reach their target of 100 crore syringes capacity.

“Now our machines crank out more than 4.2 lakh syringes of various types per hour at our factories spread over 11 acres in Faridabad industrial district in Haryana. HMD had capacity to produce over 250 Crore assorted syringes of various types and sizes per year & we are investing over ₹100 Crore from our own resources, without govt. support to scale this up to 300 crore and more, in our sincere quest for ensuring no shortages in India.

Over 440 million syringes will be supplied by HMD for India’s massive vaccination drive by September of which 365 million were timely supplied till July this year alongside supplies of Dispovan to the Private Hospitals and Vaccination Clinics.

In Covid times it’s been challenging to ramp up capacity as the precision engineering demands are tremendous at these high speeds of production for which our suppliers in Switzerland, Germany Italy, Japan etc usually take 9-12 months and not only do we need to do capital investments to increase the syringes production but also for the needles used to assemble with them and then for the cannula – needle points grinding that’s needed to make the needles and then even the stainless steel capillary tubing that’s required to make these Cannulas (needle points) as we are fully vertically integrated and make our own raw materials as we always had followed the philosophy to be Atmanirbhar.” said Mr.Nath.