People & Their Problems

New Delhi, 20 August 2010

15,000 Unsafe Hospitals

NO WASTE DISPOSAL PLANTS

By Suraj Saraf

Hospitals are supposed to provide healthcare. But, nay, there are also sources of serious hazards. One that is attracting attention for years is the increasing hazard of safe disposal of bio-waste. But no clinching solution has so far been found for this problem, aggravated by the increasing number of hospitals.

Most scandalously, according to a recent evaluating study by the General Pollution Control Board (CPCB) half the bio-medical waste generated in the country’s over 15,000 hospitals is just dumped along-with Municipal garbage without any special treatment. Forcing the authorities to issue show cause notices to all these hospitals for not following waste management rules and defaulting on safe disposal of bio-waste.

This indictment comes even as questions are being raised over whether the radio-active Cobalt 60 isotope found at a scrap yard in New Delhi’s Mayapuri area originally came from hospital waste. Recall, its unearthing had left six people battling for their lives. Following this discovery, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee surveyed all units generating hazardous waste in the city and the method used to dispose it.

To its horror, it discovered several illegal dumping sites across the Union Capital have hazardous waste hexavalent chromium, long-term exposure to which is known to cause lung, kidney, stomach and skin problems. Of the 47 samples collected and analysed from various areas, the Committee found 23 sites contained hexavalent chromium, exceeding the prescribed limit.

Not only that. During the survey, data for 95 industrial areas in the capital was compiled and it was found that Wazirpur Industrial Area was generating the highest quantum of waste, about 700 tonnes per annum. Industrial areas including Okhla, Naraina and Samaipur were also generating significant quantity of hazardous waste.

Highlighting the hazards of waste, the study said, “The quantification of hazardous waste lying at illegal dumping sites needs to be assessed before rehabilitation of the dump sites. Further study is required to be carried out to work out detailed strategy for rehabilitation of these dumping sites. Since the quantity of the hazardous waste generated from Delhi is not very high compared with other States and land is also not easily available for the disposal hence it is suggested that the possibility of transferring of the hazardous waste to the nearby States should be looked into.”

The study pointed out that North West Delhi is generating maximum land disposal waste, over 62%, of the total land disposal waste generated by various industrial localities in Delhi. About 595 TPA incinerable hazardous waste and about 73 TPA recyclable waste is generated from South Delhi which is about 34% of the total incinerable waste generation and 12% of the total recyclable waste in the city.

More. The study also underlined that there was little check on the waste generated in the city and worse, disposal of hazardous waste was still not being handled well. After accidents like the one at Mayapuri, clearly it is time that the Delhi Administration woke up to the ill-effects of the mismanagement of hazardous waste.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) evaluation commissioned by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests carried out by the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow recently, states: “Presently 50 to 55% of bio-waste is collected, segregated and treated as per the biomedical waste management rules, the rest are dumped with municipal solid wastes.” Adding, “The proportions of the problem are huge. Each day more than 4.2 lakh kg of municipal solid waste is generated in the country but there are only 157 facilities qualified to treat the waste, that too only 2.4 lakh kg of the waste.”

Further, in institutional terms, an inventory showed that of the 84,809 hospitals and healthcare facilities in India, only 28183 were using either common biomedical waste treatment facilities or had engaged private agencies to treat their waste. And the 14959-odd defaulting hospitals had been issued show cause notices. Specially against the backdrop that the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 1998, mandate hospitals to ensure that such waste is handled without any adverse effect to human health and the environment.

More appalling, is the fact there are only 391 incinerators, 2562 autoclaves and 458 microwaves in operation. Notwithstanding, that all healthcare institutions were expected to have incinerators, autoclaves or microwaves to destroy infectious waste by 2002. In addition, the Rules also make clear that biomedical wastes should not be mixed with any other type of waste and should be segregated at the point of generation. The CPCB report also advised that the number of common biomedical waste treatment facilities be increased manifold, preferably set up through public-private partnership.

The report also recommended that new technologies be promoted to destroy toxic biomedical waste. Towards that end, as an example, the report urged the Department of Science and Technology to expedite its Plasma Technology Project to incinerate waste.

It is pertinent to highlight that the Union Government in its National Urban Sanitation Policy, approved in 2008, had included safe disposal of wastes as an important part. The Government also reiterated this in the Third South Asian Conference on Sanitation held in New Delhi in early 2009. In a paper, “Sustaining the sanitary revolution” presented at the Conference, the Indian Government averred that the National Urban Sanitation Policy 2008, focused on awareness generation, behavioural changes on issues relating to sanitation, open defecation, safe disposal of wastes and maintenance of all sanitary installations.

Furthermore, the Conference emphasized that survival and well-being of developing nations depended largely on sustainable development for which sustainable water supply and sanitation were essential requirements. To facilitate this, educational institutions, universities and technical schools could be requested to contribute for the maintenance of the new sanitation paradigm by fully integrating the discourse and criteria for sustainability into their curriculam. ---INFA

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