Jennifer Warren

Slumdog Scandal

65% of all injections in India are given using a dirty syringe. Transmission of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis B are common because of this unsafe practice.

Because of lack of funding and negligence, hospitals and clinics around the country are forced to reuse syringes two or more times. In the slums, it is common for a 'quack' doctor to reuse a single syringe on more than ten patients. In these areas, patients are generally uneducated and unaware of the health risks.

Commissioned by SafePoint Trust

Sunday Times Magazine feature

Quack doctor gives a vitamin injection to a patient complaining of hypertension and weakness in Karvenagar Slum, Pune, India. Injections are the most popular method of treatment in India, as people believe the medication will take immediate effect.
   
HIV positive Vicky Lakhan, 13 years old, prepares to take his Anti-Retroviral medication. His younger brother, Rahul, age 10, is HIV negative. His father was infected with HIV from a dirty syringe in 1994, where he had sought treatment from a village doctor in Bihar, India.
   
Ram Lakhan was infected with HIV from a dirty syringe in 1994, where he had sought treatment from a village doctor in Bihar, India. With his wife, Mira Lakhan, Ram moved to New Delhi to seek treatment. After being thrown out of the hospital because of his status, the couple started the Jagriti HIV/AIDS Organization to support HIV positive people and raise awareness for safe injections in India.
     
  
Quack doctor in the Junabazaar Slum of Pune, India, preparing to inject a patient with a used syringe.
  
Patients wait for vitamin injections at a clinic in Karvenagar Slum, Pune, India. Injections are the most popular method of treatment in India, as people believe the medication will take immediate effect.
  
Quack doctor gives a vitamin injection to Ms. Sukhubai Dotre, who is complaining of hypertension and weakness in Karvenagar Slum, Pune, India.
     
  
Staff at the Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi, India, wash and separate syringes for reuse. Because of lack of funding and negligence, hospitals and clinics around the country are forced to reuse syringes two or more times. In the slums, it is common for a 'quack' doctor to reuse a single syringe on more than ten patients. In these areas, patients are generally uneducated and unaware of the health risks.
   
Staff at the Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi, India, wash and separate syringes for reuse.
  
Children wait for treatment at a clinic in Okhla Slum, Delhi, India. Most clinics in the slums of India are run by 'quack' doctors, who have little formal training and offer injections as the most common method of treatment. 65% of all injections in India are given using a dirty syringe.
     
  
Quack doctor gives an injection to a patient in Okhla Slum, Delhi, India, using a dirty needle. Following the injection, the 'doctor' returned the needle to his desk for use on another patient.
  
A child separates medical waste in a dumpster in Karvenagar Slum, Pune, India. The nearby clinic refuses to pay the city charges for proper waste disposal, and throws used syringes and other medical waste in the open dumpster.
   
Staff at the Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi, India, wash and separate syringes for reuse. This sharps bag was out in open where rag-pickers pick up rubbish for resale.
     
  
Patients wait for vitamin injections at the Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi, India.
   
Hepatitis+ patients at the Lok Nayak Hospital in Delhi, India.
   
Single use syringe boxes at a "quack" clinic in Karvenagar Slum, Pune, India.