Can you reuse syringes

Updated visitor guidelines. Top of the page. Insulin: Reusing Syringes and Lancets Safely. Topic Overview Some people with diabetes use their insulin syringes and lancets more than once to save money. Some people who have diabetes should not reuse their syringes or lancets, including people who have: Trouble seeing clearly. Trouble using their hands. Infections or open wounds. Some precautions to take if you reuse syringes or lancets: Put the cover back on the needle after use.

The safest way to do this is to place the cover and syringe on a flat surface and slide the cover over the needle without letting the needle touch either the flat surface or your fingers. Only the inside of the cover should touch the needle. Do not hold the syringe straight up; you may accidentally stick yourself. Do not clean the needle or lancet with alcohol. In , about 12 metric tonnes of biomedical waste was generated in the city officially. Infectious disease expert Dr Om Shrivastav said it is wrong to expect the patient to be vigilant here.

The tempo was filled with used medical equipment, including bloodstained gloves. The problem is with very small clinics. It is physically impossible to check their biomedical disposal mechanism. The local corporations should keep a vigil and cancel their license if they are found disposing off their waste as any other garbage. However, senior officials from Mumbai's municipal corporation said it is the responsibility of the pollution control boards to take action against those found flouting biomedical rules.

This blame game only helps the healthcare establishments get away with dangerous disposal practices. To completely eliminate the possibility of reuse of injections, several states in India are responding to WHO's call to use safety engineered syringes called smart injects which automatically get locked after the injection is administered.

Maharashtra is one of them. While governments will be able to afford the injections, would private clinics, particular those in poor neighbourhoods, shoulder the extra cost? Share your perspective on this article with a post on ScrollStack, and send it to your followers. Contribute Now. Biomedical waste lying in open on the floor at a clinic in Byculla where a doctor said he reused syringes. So why do doctors and nurses continue to reuse syringes?

Syringe shortage Nagma Quereshi is a year-old woman who lives in Govandi. But studies have documented the widespread use of unsafe injections in India. Biomedical waste disposal It is not just the deliberate reuse of injections that is a cause for worry. It is unhealthy or dangerous? Conditions Expert Dr. Insulin syringes are expensive, and many patients want to reuse needles to save money. Many also reuse the lancets used to prick the skin and draw blood to measure blood sugar.

You are right that the reuse of insulin syringes and lancets is dangerous. It can even be deadly, as it can cause a number of skin infections. Some of these infections can progress beyond a localized problem and become an abscess or even systemic blood infection.

A person with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, which is also referred to as adult-onset diabetes mellitus, is at risk of developing a number of health problems. Most talked about is the risk of cardiovascular disease, which includes an increased risk of heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease, as well as kidney disease and diabetic eye disease.

Diabetic vascular disease is a leading cause of leg amputation. Diabetic kidney disease is a leading cause of kidney failure and dialysis. Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness. Important risks that we should perhaps talk more about include the risk of infection.

Diabetes increases the risk of infections of the skin, lung pneumonia , and other organs. All of these risks can be reduced through good blood sugar control, good diet, exercise, and taking medications properly. Mild diabetes can be controlled through diet and exercise. Moderate disease often requires oral medications, and more severe Type 2 disease requires oral medicines and insulin injections. These injections are sometimes administered two, three or four times a day and timed with meals.

Every patient with diabetes should undergo diabetic teaching at diagnosis and get a refresher course every couple of years thereafter. For those who are taking oral and injectable medications, this includes when the medications should be taken, as well as what foods should be eaten and when meals should be eaten. An important part of diabetic teaching is how to take injectable medicines and check blood sugars. Sterile procedures should be used at all times. One should wash one's hands with soap and water before getting the syringe ready.

The area to be injected, which is usually the leg, arm or abdomen, should also be cleaned. A piece of cotton or gauze soaked in rubbing alcohol should be used to cleanse the injection site and to clean the top of the insulin bottle prior to drawing the dose of insulin from the bottle into the syringe.