Improper treatment of harmful biomedical waste raises concern

Vikas Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, September 24

Though the state government talks high about strengthening the health sector by opening more and more healthcare facilities, when it comes to treatment of hazardous biomedical waste being generated by government hospitals and private clinics on a daily basis, nothing much has been done in this regard.

Around 1,014 kg waste per day is generated by 815 healthcare facilities in the Jammu province. Out of this, only 349 kg waste is being treated due to the lack of sufficient waste treatment facility.

Defunct Biomedical Waste (BMW) incinerators that were lying defunct at the Government SMGS Hospital and Government Chest Diseases Hospital since long have worsened the situation as a majority of the biomedical waste is being generated from government healthcare facilities due to heavy inflow of patients across the province.

Sources said a private firm had established a waste management unit at Rakh Rara village in Samba district to collect biomedical waste from government hospitals/nursing homes/clinics, but that too was not enough as a number of private healthcare facilities were not in contact with the firm for the collection of biomedical waste.

Interestingly, the private waste management unit, which has been authorised by the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) to collect biomedical waste from healthcare facilities, was authorised only up to April 2016 to collect the same. However, Gopal Jasrotia, owner of the private firm, while talking to The Tribune, claimed that the state pollution control board had extended the authorisation for next three years.

“The firm is authorised to continue the work for next 3 years. Earlier, the extension was given by the SPCB only for 1 year, but this time we got 3 years,” Gopal said.

Meanwhile, the state pollution control board is yet to update the authorisation period on its official website. Gopal admitted that the unit tried to collect biomedical waste from all healthcare institutions, but most of them were still left behind to violate the biomedical waste management laws.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), J&K is among 9 states in the country wherein incinerators in some of the healthcare facilities were being operated without Air Pollution Control Device (APCD) or having a single chamber, which were in violation of the Bio-Medical Waste Management (BMWM) Rules. It emphasised upon the need to close down the healthcare facilities by the SPCB or the facilities should upgrade them with immediate effect.

Further, as per the Central Pollution Control Board data, there are a total of 1,298 healthcare facilities (HCFs) in J&K with approximate 13,323 beds as on January 27, 2016. Out of 1,298 HCFs, 406 are utilising Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility (CBMWTF)/private agencies. A total of 141 HCFs have their own treatment and disposable facilities, whereas 947 HCFs still require authorisation under the BMWM rules.

Biomedical waste means any waste, generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunisation of human beings or animals or research activities pertaining thereto or in the production or testing of biological or at health camps. The waste is generated from nursing homes, clinics, dispensaries, veterinary institutions, animal houses, pathological laboratories and blood banks.