It is highly disturbing that some foetuses were found in a garbage dump in Bangalore on Sunday.

Though the forensic experts later confirmed that these  foetuses were congenitally deformed and they could have been legally aborted, the question needs to be asked as to how and why human waste found its way to a garbage dump.

There are reports that many hospitals and clinics in the city are guilty of dumping  bio-medical waste along with municipal waste. Bangalore generates some 11 tonnes of bio-medical waste every day. This excludes blood and its components.

There are clear-cut norms set for disposal of human and hospital waste under the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998, under the Environment Protection Act.

It constitutes a criminal offence if the rules are not followed strictly. Among other stipulations, the rules say that bio-medical waste shall not be mixed with other wastes; colour-coding of waste is important and that untreated bio-medical waste not be stored beyond 48 hours.

Under the Act, the state  Pollution Control Board should be satisfied that the hospital or clinic has the capacity to handle bio-medical waste. Authorisation itself is granted only for an initial trial period of one year and then for a further three years. The Pollution Control Board can, in fact, cancel or suspend authorisation if the hospital or clinic has failed to comply with the rules. 

Improprer management of bio-medical waste puts healthcare workers, patients and the community at great risk  and if not disposed of properly they could pose severe health hazards, including spread of dreaded diseases like AIDS and hepatitis.

Only two weeks ago, the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board announced that it was all set to crack the whip on hospitals that do not dispose of bio-medical wastes in accordance with the Act, after its team found several city hospitals blatantly violating the norms. Now it is time that the state’s Pollution Control Board also acted.

The board has to send out teams to inspect the hospitals and clinics in the state to find out whether the norms for disposal of bio-medical waste are being followed. If not, stringent action has to be taken against the offenders. it is imperative that this is done, so as to minimise the enormous health risks that patients, health workers and the general public face from toxic bio-medical waste.