Syringe manufacturer association disappointed over govt’s export restriction
IMT News Desk
Urges government not to restrict export of non-covid size syringes
The All India Syringe & Needle Manufacturers Association has expressed disappointment over the government's decision to restrict the export of syringes and said that it will put the domestic syringe makers in an awkward situation.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has recently issued a notification saying that the export policy for syringes with or without needles has been amended from “free” to “restricted”.
Rajiv Nath, President, All India Syringes and Needles Manufacturers Association (AiSNMA) said, "To ensure there is no shortage of syringes, voluntarily many Indian syringe manufacturers in the last quarter and presently are not accepting new business export opportunities from many overseas buyers. HMD has preponed the supply commitments to the MoH&FW & further diverted the supply of 100 million pieces from UNICEF order to the government from September to December.
Nath urged the government to lift the restriction on non-covid sizes of syringes like insulin syringes, 5 ml and larger syringe sizes or 0.3 ml AD syringes developed for Pfizer which can’t be used in India for vaccination and will be a wasted capacity otherwise.
“We wish the government had called for joint meetings between vaccine manufacturers, syringe and needle manufacturers to create a balance between demand and supply and timely support for capacity creation like various covid critical medical devices and used PLI Scheme to incentivise capacity increase," said Vimal Khemka, Secretary, AISNMA.
