<p>Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report on the compliance of various provisions of the BMW Rules by each of the states/UTs.</p> <p>The CPCB report recommended that state pollution control board's
Around 41,000 staff, including sanitary workers, have been trained for the purpose A STANDARD protocol on handling and safe disposal of biomedical waste will be adhered to in all the primary, secondary and tertiary care government hospitals in Tamil Nadu, said V K Subbu Raj, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu. Addressing a seminar on hospital administration at the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University here on Tuesday, Subburaj said waste disposal management was crucial in the administration of hospitals.
Inability of hospital authorities in Srinagar to handle patients care properly; the hospitals have now come under scanner vis-
Guwahati Press Club has decided to study the problem of garbage management in Northeast with special reference to biomedical wastes. This was stated in a press release. This is a known fact that Guwahati is the crowded city with a population of nearly 20,00,000 and produces heaps of garbages everyday. More over, the city has emerged as a health care hub for the state as well as for the seven neighbouring states serving more than three crore people. One can easily imagine the quantity of hazardous biomedical wastes that the hospitals and pathological labs produce in a single day.
The programme, to begin in July, will involve tie-ups with private parties through shredding, deep burial listing priorities: Special Secretary, Health and Project Director of Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project P.W.C. Davidar explains biomedical waste management at a workshop in Coimbatore on Thursday. The State is set to begin more scientific and safer disposal of biomedical waste generated in government hospitals, including those attached to medical colleges, and primary health centres with at least 30 beds.
Dhaka Medical College Hospital will be brought under the medical wastes management programme soon as part of the initiative to reduce the risk of health hazards. The DMCH nurses, ward boys and management staff are being imparted training and an orientation programme for the physicians will be held on completion of the training to start waste management, sources at Prism Bangladesh, an NGO working for medical waste management in the capital, said.
Less than 20 per cent of Dhaka's public and private healthcare establishments, including hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres have, so far, been covered by the medical waste management system to protect public health from hazardous medical wastes. The private hospitals, clinics and pathological centres in Dhaka are producing around 400 tonnes of medical waste a day and most of the risky garbage are being disposed of in sewer and open spaces, sources said.
An estimated 1,800 hospitals in Maharashtra have not yet applied to the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for authorisation to dispose off bio medical waste (BMW). Efforts have been initiated to know about the methods used to dispose off such waste as it can lead to a pollution problem of severe magnitude and endanger lives.
By June this year, the bio-medical waste generated from municipal and private hospitals and medical institutions will be stored and disposed of at a common bio-medical waste treatment facility at Deonar dumping ground. The BMC will soon start developing the common disposal facility over 4,000 sq metre of land at Deonar. The work has been awarded to SMSL-Watergrace Products (joint-venture) on BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) basis for 20 years. The development is significant as only last month, the Bombay High Court came down heavily on hospitals not complying with Bio-medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998, and had sent notices to erring hospitals, including the civic KEM and Bhagwati hospital and state-government's JJ hospital. The court had stated that such hospitals would be ordered to close down if they failed to comply with the rules within the stipulated time. The facility is being developed in consultation with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) which had suggested that the BMC review the policy for bio-medical disposal by appointing a separate operator for collection, transportation and treatment system instead of separate agencies. In 2000, the civic body had entrusted E A Infrastructure Operations Pvt Ltd the treatment of bio-medical waste generated in the city for a period of 10 years. The treatment facility at Sewree started in 2002. However, a year later the incinerator started facing problems and had to be closed down due to technical problems. In the meantime, anatomical waste was treated at the incinerator plant at Taloja. The civic administration also decided to appoint divisionwise contractors to transport and treat the anatomical waste at Taloja, but MPCB suggested that there should not be separate agencies for collection/transportation and another for disposal. Accordingly, with the help of MPCB as 'project management consultancy' the BMC finalised an operator. An expert committee of officials from the government, academicians and representatives from hospitals associations helped in selecting--SMSL-Watergrace products (JV). The BMC will pay Rs 21.22 lakh to the MPCB as
Biomedical waste, including syringes, items contaminated with body fluids and animal carcasses continue to be illegally dumped in yards marked for municipal waste, in contravention of both the Solid Waste Management Rules 2000 and the Biomedical Waste Management Rules 1998.
Industrial units illegally dump hazardous waste in remote fields, often crossing state borders, to dodge the law and cut costs. <b><font class='UCASE'>ravleen kaur</font></b> travels to Tumkur and Chamrajnagar in Karnataka to find out how untreated wast
