HMD indigenously develops Dispojekt safety needle syringes to curb menace of NSI

New Delhi: Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices (HMD) has launched the first-of-its kind Dispojekt single use syringes with safety needle in India.

With the Dispojekt safety syringes, HMD aims to reduce prevalence of accidental Needle Stick Injuries (NSIs) among health workers, reduction of infection control cost and that of disposal and training, offering a long term positive financial impact on the healthcare sector.

Domestically manufactured, technologically advanced products will provide India a global edge in the realm of R&D and leapfrog indigenous players to meet the highly demanding global market for sharp injury prevention syringes.

The use of safety needles in healthcare settings offer numerous cost benefits. They reduce healthcare worker injuries, lowering costs from potential disease treatment and potential long-term health issues. By minimizing needle stick injuries, they also decrease expenses for post-exposure prophylaxis and associated healthcare costs.

“Equipped with a safety shield (SIP Shield), Dispojekt syringe addresses critical concerns of needle stick injuries and reaffirms our commitment as market leader towards excellence in healthcare. It is a great outcome of our Make in India resolve as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to realize the goal of Viksit Bharat,” said Rajiv Nath, Managing Director, HMD, adding that India is all poised to become a global powerhouse in manufacturing and exporting of medical devices in sync with the spirit of Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

There is significant headroom for innovation and growth in the medical devices industry and the future of healthcare technology rests on robust R&D. With the disposable syringe market size in India estimated to be over 5 billion units per year and 5-6 billion needles, 80 % of which are in the hands of private sector players. “We aim for 60-70 % market share in the next three years, thanks to our innovative Dispojekt,” informed the Executive Director, Sohail Nath.

“HMD believes in delivering the best at the most competitive costing. Dispojekt safety needle syringes are going to be the game changer in the Global fight against NSIs. We are aiming to initially produce 200 million syringes and needles per annum for which we have invested approximately Rs 70 crore in the first phase,” revealed Sohail.

“In the second phase, we will increase the capacity to 300 million pieces per annum by investing another Rs 10 crore to Rs 15 crore,” added Sohail, sounding buoyant over expected return on investment over the next five years as HMD is a debt-free financially strong manufacturer and the product development has been financed from internal resources without any grants.

As one of the leading medical device manufacturers with multiple state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Faridabad, Haryana, HMD produces over 4 billion injection needles per annum, catering to the needs of its primary markets comprising India, Europe, US, Middle East, and its secondary markets of South-East Asia and Africa.

Talking about managing inventory and distribution of Dispojekt safety needle syringes, Sohail, said that HMD has a national distribution network of over 9500 dealers and has over 60 contractual stock points in key metropolitan, Tier I and Tier II cities which is assisted by their dedicated sales force, ensuring that supply chain management is uninterrupted as has been the case for its Dispovan brand syringes with rapid delivery and short term quick delivery and turn around cycle.

Reflecting further, he said that Dispojekt safety needle syringes will not only further strengthen our position as market leader but will give a boost global collective efforts of WHO to check NSIs leading to transmission of blood borne disease, like Hepatitis B, C and HIV among healthcare personnel, betting on its quality, uniqueness and affordability.

“Dispojekt safety needle syringes have been designed to be affordable for the developing world including India and are nearly half the cost of safety single use syringes used in the USA and Europe where 100 percent usage is mandatory by legislation,” informed Sohail.

As per a publication in International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, the overall prevalence of NSIs in India in 2021 was 20.1 %. It has been observed that NSIs prevalence among nurses was 31.3 %, technicians 37.5 %, ward boys and other staff 15 %, and sweepers of public and private hospitals 15.6 %.

According to research, the prevalence of NSIs among healthcare workers in India is between 57% and 73%. In fact, approximately 54% of NSIs are reported because of using hypodermic needles. Many instances of NSIs go unreported, making it a way more serious problem than it appears. To shield frontline healthcare workers from the dangers of NSIs, we at HMD have pioneered a single-use syringe with safety needle –Dispojekt.

Asked about clinical studies conducted to affirm safety and efficacy of Dispojekt safety needle syringes, Rajiv Nath said, “Dispojekt syringes are a part of Safety Engineered Devices (SED). Numerous clinical studies and evaluations have been conducted to assess the safety and efficacy of syringes with safety needles. There are clinical trials which have proved that the use of SED has reduced the incidence of needle stick injuries in healthcare workers” and its usage is encouraged as best practices for Injection Safety in EU & USA and by WHO in the developing world. This initial design was field trialed in India, UK and USA and based on feedback received the product was re-engineered to be more cost effective and affordable and user friendly, by being a major improvement over existing commonly available safety syringes in the global market.”