New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) - In Gujarat, there is a full-fledged organization for the reuse of discarded medical supplies and equipment. This black market has emerged after 56 people have died and more than 100 are sick with hepatitis B, which they contracted from the use of contaminated equipment.
More than 300 tons of discarded medical equipment were found over a few days in private hospitals, laboratories, and medical centers in the district of Modasa. Syringes, needles, saline bottles, intravenous drips and vials were washed and repackaged for sale. In the capital, Ahmedabad, entire warehouses of recycled material were found.
Now the investigations are focusing on four companies in Narol and Isanpur, out of the 26 responsible for disposing of medical waste.
Jaynarayan Vyas, the health minister of Gujarat, says that at least 20 doctors have been arrested for using or buying this material. Two of them, a father and son, are accused of culpable homicide for transmitting hepatitis by using the same syringe for multiple patients.
But there has been an outcry, because it is believed that the practice has been going on for years, and has emerged only after the death of dozens of people, who contracted hepatitis from none other than their doctors and hospitals.
There are also accusations of a lack of specific laws and adequate information about the danger: a recent study by the Indian Clinical Epidemiology Network estimated that more than 30% of needles have been used more than once.