Johannesburg - Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu revealed in June that medical staff in the province’s hospitals suffered 2 330 needle- stick injuries in the past three years.
On Thursday, Dr Habib Somanje, the World Health Organisation’s SA health systems adviser, said unsafe injections caused 1.3 million early deaths each year globally.
The WHO also estimated that globally, about 170 million injections were being administered every day, highlighting the need to protect the people who administer them.
Speakers at the safety summit hosted by the Biomedical devices company BD at the Sandton Convention Centre called on needle- stick injuries not to go unnoticed in the healthcare sector as they caused major trauma for the health workers who risked contracting hepatitis B and C as well as HIV through them.
Earlier this year, the WHO released a new global injection safety policy and campaign.
“Our target is to have exclusive use of safety engineered injection devices by 2020… a safe injection does not harm the recipient or provider, and it does not result in any waste dangerous for others,” Somanje said.
While there was no collated data on the full extent of needle- stick injuries in the country, speakers at the event emphasised the need to remove the stigma and fear of reporting the injuries. And with the new guidelines, Somanje said the intention was to reduce the re-use of injection equipment and reduce the overuse of injections, among others.
Somanje added that in 2000, it was estimated that 6.6 billion of the injections administered were given using used equipment – but that number had since decreased last year to 5.5 percent of all injections given.
There were currently several “smart syringes” available which have re-use prevention and sharp injury prevention features.
Mahlangu, who revealed the information in a written response to questions posed by DA MPL Jack Bloom in the Gauteng legislature, said the highest number of needlestick injuries last year was at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (Bara), which recorded 252 injuries.
This number was followed by Steve Biko Academic Hospital with 154 injuries last year, Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital with 100, Ann Latsky Nursing College with 66 and Kalafong Hospital with 48.
Professor Patrick Bouic said: “We urgently need safety devices in our healthcare institutions… healthcare workers want and deserve safety and protection.
“There is limited data from Groote Schuur Hospital and Bara, but what about the cases that aren’t reported? How can we implement a proper reporting structure?”
He added that the cost of exposure to needlestick injuries was unknown in the country, but there was a bigger human cost that added a great weight on workers’ shoulders, such as developing depression, stress and anxiety.
Somanje said political commitment was also needed in implementing the guidelines given by the WHO, but also, public awareness campaigns to address some untruthful beliefs from patients about injections - such as if an injection is painful it has more efficacy - were still needed, as well as training and retraining of healthcare workers.
The Star