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New treatment plants for medical waste

By Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI JUNE 12 .Delhi hospitals together produce more than 30 tonnes of bio-medical waste every day. The bad news is that almost all hospitals without exception are doing a rather shabby job of managing and destroying their waste. This was pointed out in a survey carried out by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) last year.

The good news, however, is that the Delhi Government is in no mood to give up the fight against managing waste. Coming up in the city are two centralised bio-medical waste disposal centres which, according to officials, would be the largest units of their kind to be set up in the State. Together the units have the capability to process 20 tonnes of medical waste a day. This, they are hopeful, will take care of the medical waste produced by over 2,000-odd private medical units in the city.

The waste disposal centres to be set up in Okhla and Ghazipur, according to officials, will centralise waste management and assist in monitoring of their safe disposal and enable the government to maintain the requisite pollution control measures often compromised.

``It was noted that while private medical centres were producing waste, the disposal facilities available to them were unsatisfactory. The absence of a centralized facility in Delhi, private hospitals and smaller establishments was leading to disposing medical waste in a hazardous manner. With the opening of the two plants, we will allow private companies to collect, transport and suitably destroy the bio-medical waste,'' explained A.K. Walia, the Delhi Health and Family Welfare Minister.

The proposal to build the centre comes after the survey by CPCB warned the government about the poor quality incinerators being installed in the city hospitals. The study pointed out that the operation and maintenance of these incinerators was poor, as hospitals do not have well qualified and trained staff for their operations. It also warned that the mushrooming of such installations in the country was a `harmful' trend.

Adds K.S. Baghotia, in-charge of the bio-medical waste management cell: "While large hospitals in the city have their own waste disposal system, small hospitals, nursing homes and laboratories have to rely on other hospitals for the waste disposal. This facility will enable the government to help regulate and monitor the disposal of waste.''

Maintenances of bio-medical waste takes about Rs. 17 lakhs annually. A centralised service, points out experts, will cut these costs substantially. "Stack monitoring carried out by the CPCB in several hospitals of Delhi indicated that none of the incinerators complied with the emission limits. They also did not comply with the provision stipulated in the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, thus nullifying the objectives of incineration of bio-medical waste. The common waste treatment facilities will change the scenario,'' maintained Dilip Biswas, Chairman CPCB.

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