The Hindu : New Delhi News : An inventor with a difference

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 14, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

An inventor with a difference

For long unsure of his calling in life, Marc Koska went on to invent the disposable K1-syringe, thus solving the problem of disease transmission through used syringes, says Bindu Shajan Perappadan

Best known for inventing the K1-syringe that automatically disables after use, Marc Koska was never the academic or born inventor destined to do anything big, least of all devise a syringe that would solve one of the biggest banes of the healthcare system.

Mr. Koska's story is about a young man who just about managed to finish school, then travelled for several years working for a short period in London and later skied, sailed and worked his way around Europe, the United Sates and the Caribbean not sure which way life would take him.

"My calling came one fine day sometime in 1984 when I was reading a newspaper article predicting the transmission of HIV through the reuse of needles and syringes. I was fascinated by the problem and vowed to do something about it. I got so interested in the subject that I studied how drug addicts used syringes in the United Kingdom, then went to Geneva to learn about public health policy, visited several syringe factories, studied plastic injection moulding, and read everything available on the transmission of viruses like HIV.''

After a year of intense study, he concluded that syringe manufacture was the key to the problem. "I then designed the K1-syringe that could be made out of the existing equipment with a small modification. It was made from the same materials and could be used in the same way as a normal syringe so that healthcare professionals would not have to be re-trained to use this new syringe. My syringe cannot be used again which ensures that the next patient will have a sterile and safe injection, which is the need of the hour,'' says Mr. Koska .

Mr. Koska and his company, Star Syringe Limited, have been recognised and awarded for their work.

Mr. Koska was decorated as Officer of the Order of the British Empire in February 2006. His company won the Queen's Award for Enterprise for International Trade last year.

"We have to understand that the new syringes are only one part of the solution to a larger problem. We have to teach the general public about the dangers of reusing needles and so in 2005 I established SafePoint, a non-profit organisation dedicated to educating the general public about this issue,'' says Mr. Koska, who was in the Capital this past week to meet President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam to request him for help in the safe injection campaign.

"I also brought along a short documentary film - `One Injection-One Syringe' -- which highlights the magnitude of the menace caused by re-use of syringes and needles. Our mission is to inform the next generation in the developing world of extreme issues that can be solved through simple messages. SafePoint's primary focus is to highlight the unsafe healthcare arising from the use of unsafe injections and advocacy of safe injections,'' says Mr. Koska.

Speaking about the problem in India, Mr. Koska says: "Contaminated syringes exposes a child to the risk of getting AIDS or hepatitis after the age of five, that is once he has completed his course of immunisation where only one-time-use syringes are used. The child is then exposed to the world of re-useable syringes, which is dangerous.''

"Our focus for India is to create an education base about the use of non-reusable syringes. People should also be made to understand the high cost of treatment associated with diseases caused by the use of contaminated syringes. Under our awareness campaign we will also talk to doctors and medical staff to educate them about the use of these syringes. The medical staff is the centrepiece in the programme because they can educate and impresses upon people the need for safe one-time-use injections only,'' says Mr. Koska. His non-profit company is now working on bringing a three-minute film to India that will spread the message of safe injections.

"Life is too precious to be lost to diseases caused by the use of contaminated syringes. If we can use non-reusable shaving blades why can't we spend some money to ensure clean and contamination-free injection?'' he asks.

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