In his report submitted to the City police commissioner, additional commissioner (law & order) and deputy commissioner (North), Inspector Srirampuram police station, Boopaiah has stated that there’s circumstantial evidence to prove that the foetuses and the bio-medical waste could be from the BACC.

The report stated that the police found  ‘Hokkala Balli Helida Sathya Kathe’ - a book authored by Dr Rao, at the site. “This book is not available in the market. It is given to women patients at the Centre. Since BACC treats infertility, the possibility of them having stored the foetuses is more,” stated the report, a copy of which is available with Deccan Herald.

 The police had seized nine IV bottles and some syringes along with the foetuses. These, they sent to the Drug Controller, Karnataka, along with the batch numbers. “The Drug Controller after verifying the batch numbers, found that six of them belonged to BACC and Desai Nursing Home.Three other bottles were purchased from different distributors,” the report stated. The police have concluded that the BACC staff had seemingly disposed off BMW and foetuses in a negligent way. “This is in violation of the Section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986,” the report stated.

The State Pollution Control Board received the police report on August 29, following which the regional office of the Board in Bangalore City - II area inspected BACC on September 7 and found that they were not segregating and disposing the BMW as per the Bio-Medical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 1998. They sent a report to the KSPCB on September 12, based on which the Board issued a show cause notice on non-compliance of Rules to Dr Rao asking her to reply in a week’s time.

In her reply dated September 12, Dr Rao said that her “clinic is one of the early adopters, since October 20, 2003, of the BMW (Management & Handling) Rules. The waste generated by us at our clinical and OT facilities are minimal owing to the nature of our practice. We have engaged the services of a recognised BMW disposal unit,” stated Dr Rao.

She added in the letter that her centre has also been segregating BMW and using prescribed colour codes to do so. “However, in view of your report, we are willing to comply with and implement any additional recommendations made by your officers to ensure safe and proper disposal of any wastes generated at our facility and prevent any hazard to human health and environment,” she added.

Personal hearing
The Board will schedule a personal hearing with Dr Rao on the issue for any further action. “We will give her an opportunity to explain,” said Dr H C Sharatchandra, chairman, KSPCB.