Amid the threat from Covid-19’s Omicron variant, this new order has led to concerns of a potential shortage in the country in syringes and needles.
India’s largest manufacturer of syringes – Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices (HMD) has closed down its plant in Haryana after orders from the state Pollution Control Board. Amid the threat from COVID-19 ‘s Omicron variant, this new order has led to concerns of a potential shortage in the country in syringes and needles.
So far, HMD has shut three of its four manufacturing units in its 11-acre facility in Faridabad after the state pollution authority’s directive. The company is responsible for more than two-thirds of the country’s demand for needles and syringes.
HMD Managing Director Rajiv Nath told IANS that the company produces 80 lakh syringes and 1.5 crore needles on a daily basis, which has been halted due to the factories being shut down. ” As we can’t feed needles beyond two days buffer stock from Monday, other factories fed by the mother unit will be shut and daily 1.2 crore syringes will not be available nationally,” Nath added.
Meanwhile, Nath stated that HMD finally decided to shut the production units, as the company does not have any buffer stocks beyond two days. Giving an update on how the country will suffer after the shutdown, Nath stated that currently syringes and needles are already running short both domestically as well as globally. So, the situation will worsen as HMD has been ordered to shut down.
Moreover, this will impact the production of 1.5 crore lakh needles and 80 lakh syringes every day, Nath claimed.
Till now, Haryana Pollution Control Board has ordered 228 units to be shut down in the area. Reports claim that the HMD plant was told to shut down since it was diesel generation sets, but Nath has denied the allegations.
According to reports, HMD was directed to close down its plants voluntarily to avoid legal prosecution or sealing of the manufacturing units. In a bid to stop this, the company has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him that syringe be declared as critical medical devices for the coronavirus pandemic. They have also asked him to ensure that the plants are allowed to function in an uninterrupted manner.