IT is troubling that the federal Ministry of Health has failed to keep a check on the import, sale and manufacture of unregistered syringes, despite the fact that the import and sale of such products, when unregistered, is in contravention of the Drugs Act 1976. According to a report in this paper, due to the ministry's lack of action importers and manufacturers are selling syringes without any governmental oversight. This has the potential to play havoc with public health since without official checks in place, how can it be ensured, for example, that used syringes are not being repackaged and sold to consumers? For a country in which the sale of spurious medicines and other substandard products is not unknown, there is a distinct possibility that used or inferior quality syringes are being sold. The fact that shared syringes can lead to the spread of Aids and hepatitis must also be considered.

Importers have used a decade-old legal loophole to sell unregistered syrin- ges: they obtained a stay order from the Lahore High Court against the health ministry in 2000. However, after the passage of several deadlines — the last of which expired in October — importers and manufacturers have no legal cover that prevents them from evading registering their products. Ministry officials insist 'a strict mechanism' exists to regulate the syringe industry, yet observers say that despite having the manpower to ensure the industry complies with the law, it has failed to do so. The health authorities need to rethink their complacence in this matter. They need to take action to prevent syringe importers and manufacturers from playing with the public's health. It must be ensured that the syringes being brought into the country as well as those manufactured locally meet the highest international standards and that after they are used, they are disposed of properly to prevent the spread of disease.