I read your news regarding the safety syringe issue . The transition from the normal syringe to safety syringe is necessary and must be done immediately as the health-care workers are exposed to the danger of contracting deadly diseases such as Hepatitis B and Aids through needle-stick injuries.

I have done some detailed study o­n this issue and the concern of former US president Bill Clinton and United States for using safety syringes is due to the alarming statistics of needle-stick injuries which led to the contraction of deadly diseases.

I totally agree that the safety syringes being sold to the hospitals presently are expensive, which creates concern among the medical professionals. The concern should not be about the price or the number of healthcare workers who got affected by needle-stick injury, but about each and every individual in the health-care industry who is risking their lives facing the danger of contracting deadly diseases due to needle-stick injury and the ways to prevent it.

Actually, the price of these safety syringes can be reduced to an affordable rate looking at the Malaysian forecast of 27 million syringes. There is a safety syringe of good quality with all the approvals and certifications to the medical standards at a very affordable price, far cheaper than the o­nes being offered right now in the market.

This safety syringe, which is manufactured in Vietnam, is already being used in the United States, South Africa, Italy, Australia, Thailand and Pakistan. The total number of syringes sold by the manufacturer this year amounts to 60 million and is increasing. This shows the immediate need and concern the world has with regard to needle-stick injury.

Malaysia should do the same in response to the World Health Organisation's appeal for mandatory use of safety syringes to eliminate needle-stick injury.