Despite civic body order, garbage dumps visible in Civil Hospital

Three days after Amritsar Municipal Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh announced stringent action against government departments, hospitals and private institutions if garbage was found accumulating within their premises instead of being scientifically disposed of, heaps of garbage, including syringes and other medical waste, was found dumped in the open inside the Civil Hospital, Amritsar. The garbage was seen dumped outside a small building area, on the backside of the emergency ward, extremely close to the designated area for disposal of medical and bio-remedial waste.

On days like today, when the city saw heavy rainfall, even if for a few hours, such open dumping of garbage could prove to be not just a health hazard, but also an environmental hazard because of waste degradation, one that might linger on for years. While the inside of the hospital’s emergency ward was clean, though crowded with patients and visitors, the open dumping of garbage, without segregation just outside the periphery, is an invitation for diseases.

There have been multiple complaints by visitors and patients regarding lack of proper maintenance and hygiene at government hospitals. Manvinder Singh, a visitor, who had brought his younger brother who was injured in a road accident, to the ward, said that this is slowly becoming ‘normal’. “Even if you go to other government hospitals, open dumping of garbage is seen everywhere. Even if you try to question the cleaners or hospital staff about the situation, they respond with silence or excuses.”

A few days back, Amritsar Tribune had reported how heaps of plastic and other waste was dumped recklessly in the open opposite the emergency ward of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. It’s not the first time that such dumping of garbage inside several public hospitals is seen. It has been a longstanding issue, with reports being filed over a span of last few years. The problem is further fuelled by negligent visitors’ attitude, lack of prompt municipal garbage pickup and loose enforcement of law and regulations by the authorities concerned.