According to Rajiv Nath, MD, HMD, the estimated demand in India would be around 900 million pieces
Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices (HMD) has shipped the last shipment of 35 million pieces of KOJAK Auto Disable Syringes to Covax stockpile facility via UNICEF to complete the 140 million KOJAK AD Syringes order for 2020 stockpiled AD Syringes for global Covid vaccination campaigns.
“December 29 was our last of the 35 million pieces shipment to COVAX facility via UNICEF to complete our 140 million pcs orders for 2020 stockpiled AD Syringes for global Covid vaccination campaigns. HMD, as committed, delivered a total of 140 million in 5 months to the Covax facility working for global equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines,” said Rajiv Nath, MD, Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices.
HMD is the leading four suppliers of AD Syringes to UNICEF and largest manufacturer in India of auto-disable syringes that ensure one injection from one syringe and recipients are assured a safe injection that’s not been used earlier.
“In anticipation of the unprecedented spike in demand, HMD from an annual capacity of 0.5 ml Kojak AD syringes of 560 million pcs in June has ramped up to over 700 million pcs p.a. currently which we plan to increase to 800 million pcs per annum in the first quarter of 2021 and then 1000 million pcs per annum in the second quarter of 2021 as India gets ready for COVID-19 vaccine. If Govt. enters into a supply long term contract we can plan to produce more,” said Nath.
According to Rajiv Nath, the estimated demand in India would be around 900 million pieces of different kinds of syringes for just one shot of the vaccine, considering 60-70 per cent of the country gets vaccinated. The number would amplify to 1.8 billion if the vaccine India chooses needs two shots.
HMD is currently producing approx 1 lakh pcs of 0.5 ml Kojak AD syringes per hour, 24 hours a day – it’s going to be a challenge to vaccinate over 1.5-2 lakh people every hour in eight working hours daily. By April – June we will need to build infrastructure to vaccinate over 2-2.5 lakh people per hour i.e 16 to 20 lakh people daily.
