Hospitals continue to dump bio-medical waste in open

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, June 26

Dumping of the bio-medical waste in the open continues unabated in the city as a majority of the hospitals — both private and government — are found violating the norms.

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) had directed the hospitals to form an agreement with the service-providing agency in the district.

According to the data given by the HSPCB, only 200 hospitals, clinics and laboratories got themselves registered with the board for the agreement. Sources said there are more than 600 hospitals, clinics and laboratories in the district that generate a large quantity of bio-medical waste daily.

The waste is being thrown in dustbins placed near government hospitals or in the vicinity of a majority of the private nursing homes, posing health hazard for the residents living nearby.

“The pollution control board should take stringent steps to check this menace,” said Deepak Kumar, a city resident.

Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC) authorities claim to have a proper mechanism. “The medical waste lying between the KCGMC and the Civil Hospital does not belong to our institute as we have a proper segregation and disposal system,” said Dr. Surinder Kashyap, Director, KCGMC.

Meanwhile, the Civil Hospital authorities also have a similar claim. “It is a common area and anybody can dump the garbage here. We have a proper system for disposal,” said Dr. Piyush Sharma, Principal Medical Officer (PMO), Civil Hospital.

Dr Ramesh Kumar, Civil Surgeon, claimed that all government hospitals have a proper mechanism as they have hired a company to dispose of the waste. “If anyone is dumping bio-medical waste in open, it is a gross negligence,” he added.

SK Arora, area engineer of the HSPCB, said an agency has been assigned the task to collect and dispose of the medical waste from the registered hospitals. “If there are violations, I will get them checked. An action will be initiated against the defaulters,” he said.