ANGLO AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION (AMIC) has invested R117-million in a South African safety syringe plant to be set up in Somerset
The project, due to be commissioned by the end of 1996, signals Anglo’s entry into the medical consumables and equipment market.
Safety syringes can only be used once and reduce the risk to healthcare workers of needle stick injuries and the accidental transfer of Aids and hepatitis.
Although safety syringes are produced worldwide, sales have not taken off because the safety syringe is more expensive than conventional syringes.
Amic deputy chairman Mike Sander says the locally produced safety syringe will have a significant cost advantage over the imported safety syringe.
The local market is worth about R90-million and so most of the 220-million unit production of the local plant will be aimed at the international market, estimated to be worth about R13-billion in total sales. The US market is worth about R4,5-billion, of which about a third is spent on safety syringes.