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Syringe industry protests export restrictions
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SME Times News Bureau | 06 Oct, 2021
Indian associations of syringes and medical devices manufacturers have
urged the government not to restrict export of non-Covid vaccine
syringes.
They also asked the government to come out with
guidance on the quarterly needs of syringes, specially for the first
quarter of 2022.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade on
Monday notified that syringes with or without needles have been shifted
to the restricted list from the free list.
In a statement, the
All India Syringe and Needle Manufacturers Association (AISNMA) said:
"It takes lots of effort and years to build credibility as a global
supplier and India's reputation as a manufacturing hub of syringes will
be tarnished as being undependable."
Appealing to the government
not to restrict export of syringes which are not required by India, the
AISNMA assured that the industry "will always prioritise the domestic
needs".
Expressing dismay and disappointment at the government's
action, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMeD) Forum
Coordinator Rajiv Nath said the supply chain management is currently
challenged in the country due to increased demand for standard
disposable syringes in view of the spike in dengue and typhoid and
others in the July-September quarter, but the demand spike will ease
from mid-November.
He said the 20-odd syringe manufacturers
should focus on non-Covid curative care as priority one and followed by
vaccination preventive care and honouring export commitments.
Nath
urged the government not to apply the restrictions on non-Covid
syringes like insulin syringes, 5 ml or larger syringe sizes or 0.3 ml
auto disable (AD) syringes developed for Pfizer.
The AIMeD also
urged the government to allow export of 50 per cent of the quantity
shipped to a country last year during October-January of 0.5/1/2/3 ml.
AISNMA
Secretary Vishal Khemka said: "Countries are counting on India to
support global immunisation/vaccination projects mainly for children for
yellow fever or measles, hepatitis B, pentavalent or BCG etc. Those are
not the syringes used for Covax supplies of 0.5 ml AD etc."
"We
cannot deprive those children from those immunisation commitments as
those syringes will anyways not be used for Covid vaccination in India
and will lie unused in our factories, causing us huge losses. This is
our ongoing global contractual commitments to support global vaccination
projects," he added.
Nath also noted that to ensure there is no
shortage of syringes, many Indian syringe manufacturers, on a voluntary
basis, in the last quarter and presently as well, are not accepting new
business export opportunities from many overseas buyers.
Khemka
had told IANS earlier that the total Indian market size for syringes
will be about 500 crore pieces of which the government supplies will be
about 200 crore pieces and exports about 150 crore pieces, while the
remaining will be for domestic institutional (hospitals, clinics) and
retail sales.
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