OREANDA-NEWS. February 26, 2008. A 10ml and 20ml syringe manufacturing facility was launched at Medplast Company in Gomel. Attending the opening ceremony was Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky, reported the Official website www.government.by.

The capacity of two 10ml and 20ml syringe lines is 70 million items per year. The launch of the new facility is the next step in realization of the project, which aims to establish production of disposable syringes in the country. In August 2007, Medplast launched the production of 2ml and 5ml syringes. The capacity of the line is 120 million items per year.

The innovative project has been implemented at Medplast in pursuance of the instruction of the President of Belarus and is in line with the government import-substituting policy. The project cost Br28 billion. The new production will meet Belarus’ demand in disposable syringes of all sizes.

The latest know-hows were used to set up a syringe manufacturing facility in Gomel, Karl Heinz, a representative of the German Transcoject, the general supplier of the equipment, said at an opening ceremony of the injection syringe manufacturing facility at Medplast company.

The equipment was installed by German and Belarusian specialists. The quality of products being high, the production capacity will be 20% higher than it was originally planned.

The German representative noted that this is the 42nd plant the company has cooperated with. The equipment installed at the Belarusian company meets up-to-date technologies, he added.

The capacity of two 10ml and 20ml syringe lines launched at Medplast Company is 70 million items per year. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky.

The Government of Belarus is set to consider whether there is any sense to set up a syringe needle manufacturing facility in Belarus, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky told reporters in Gomel. The head of government attended a ceremony to unveil 10ml and 20ml disposable syringe manufacture at Medplast company.

In August 2007, Medplast launched the production of 2ml and 5ml syringes. With new capacities commissioned, the demand of medical institutions of Belarus which is estimated at 180 million will be met in full. The level of quality meets international standards. To make the products even more competitive, Medpalst plans to start sterilizing the goods for medical application. For the time being syringes are sterilized in Minsk and in Russia.

Thus, a closed cycle of syringe manufacture will be created at the company. It is only syringe needles that the country will have to import. They are purchased in Japan. The price of needles accounts for approximately 17% of the cost of a syringe. Therefore there is a need to estimate what is more beneficial - to purchase them or to establish own production, Sergei Sidorsky said.
Such companies are profit-making if the output is at least 2 billion needles per year. Medplast demand is around 200 million, the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky instructed the Medplast company and the Belneftekhim concern to develop the exports of syringes in the near future. Sergei Sidorsky, who is in Gomel on a working trip, attended the ceremony to unveil the two 10ml and 20ml syringe production lines at Medplast Company.

According to the Head of Government, the new equipment will help meet the demand of the country’s medical establishments in indigenously-made syringes. Today the demand reaches 180 million items per year. The production capacity of 190 million syringes gives an opportunity to start exports.

Sergei Sidorsky set forth a task to double the syringe production and “advance onto foreign markets”. For these purposes the company should purchase additional high-quality equipment.

An increase in the output and exports will help raise the average wages of the company’s personnel up to Br1 million a month.

In 2008 gas price will not increase for Belarus, Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Sidorsky told reporters on February 21.

“In accordance with the agreement, in 2007 the price was at the level of $100 per 1,000 cubic meters. An increase this year made up 19% and we are confident the price will not increase by the end of the year,” the Prime Minister said.

Yet, the price is calculated on the basis of a formula while the formula depends on the trends on international market. “Yesterday the oil price crossed the line of $100pbl. Therefore our partners will be pushing on another position. However, the heads of state Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin have agreed that the price for Belarus will remain unchanged at the level of $119 in 2008, Sergei Sidorsky stressed. Naturally Belarus will keep the transit rates at the level which was agreed. Beltransgaz and Gazprom are now working on these issues, the Prime minister said.