The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board’s proposal to get hospitals and common biomedical waste treatment facilities to install Global Position Systems (GPS) in all their vehicles is welcome. It will enable authorities to keep an eye on where biomedical waste dumpsters are getting rid of the waste by monito-ring the route they take and distance they travel. It should go some way in preventing the unscientific disposal of biomedical waste. Biomedical waste, which includes used syringes and needles, soiled bandages and bed linen, human and anatomical waste, blood and tissue samples, is dangerous as it carries deadly pathogens. Contact with such waste can spread infection, including HIV, Tetanus and Hepatitis B and C. This can be prevented if the waste is treated, segregated and disposed off scientifically.
Only around 15% of all biomedical waste is infectious. Failure to segregate this waste culminates in all the waste becoming deadly. A strong effort to ensure scientific and safe disposal of biomedical waste was put in place earlier this year with the Central government releasing The Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016. Besides laying down norms for pre-treatment of biomedical waste, it put in place rules to ease the process of segregation. It made bar coding of all bags and containers that hold biomedical waste mandatory. This was to monitor waste once it leaves the premises of a healthcare facility.Surprise checks of healthcare facilities and clinics reveal that biomedical waste is not being segregated at source. Neither is it being disposed off scientifically. It is not uncommon for vehicles to dump such waste in storm water drains, dumping grounds for dry and wet waste, open sites, water bodies and near villages. It is only a matter of time then before pathogens enter the environment and the food cycle. It is to prevent this that the KSPCB is keen to monitor where vehicles are disposing biomedical waste.
India generates around 484 tonnes of biomedical waste per day. Official figures for 2013 reveal that Karnataka not only tops the states with regard to the amount of biomedical waste it produces (84 tonnes) but also the number of violations of rules. The KSPCB’s proposed monitoring of dumpsters is a step in the right direction. However, identifying violators isn’t enough; they must be punished, perhaps with cancellation of licences. Importantly, healthcare authorities cannot wash their hands off the problem. They often claim that what happens to biomedical waste after it leaves their premises isn’t their responsibility. It is hospitals and clinics that are generating the waste. Making public the names of hospitals that violate rules will make them clean up their act.
Published 09 December 2016, 18:24 IST