The Hindu : New Delhi News : Ministry proposes open burning of syringe waste

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Ministry proposes open burning of syringe waste

By Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI, AUG. 23. With just four months left for implementation of the Union Government's decision to introduce Auto-Disabling (AD) syringes for all immunisation activities, the Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare has come up with a rather "simple" solution for disposal of the 210-million syringe waste that would be generated each year. It has decided that the best way to deal with the mammoth AD syringe waste would be to "burn" it openly.

What's more, it even wrote to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) asking permission to "burn the AD syringe waste" that would be generated following its introduction in 2005. In response, a rather "shocked" CPCB wrote back stating that the open burning of AD syringes "was not acceptable at all".

The letter has also asked the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to ensure that disposal of AD syringes and other waste was done as per provisions of the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) rules.

Responding to the "exchange of letters" and the fact that the Ministry was yet to come up with any feasible solution, officials claim that the proposal for open burning was sent following an "in-house study".

Maintaining that it was a well thought out proposal, Ministry officials also claimed that the letter was forwarded "as a matter of routine to take permission from the Board to dispose AD syringes".

The Department wrote to the Board again this time stating that "since the proposal for open burning was turned down, could the Board propose ways to deal with the waste generated?" The Board in response maintained that the matter required all the three parties (Union Ministry for Environment and Forests, Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare and the CPCB) to sit down and frame guidelines as "it cannot be handled by the CPCB alone".

But it isn't just the CPCB which is wondering how the Department of Health and Family Welfare came up with the suggestion of open burning. Those at World Health Organisation (WHO) are surprised that when countries have now been called upon to minimise use of incinerators, the Ministry has sought permission for open burning.

The Secretary of Family Welfare, P.K. Hota, however, in a meeting with experts and officials dealing with the subject this past Thursday, noted: "While disposal of waste is an issue that the Government has to look into, there are other problems that need urgent attention. We have to look into the hidden costs involved which includes training of the staff to use the injections, transportation of the used syringes and also the question of sustainability of the programme."

With the introduction of the syringes, the Government is hoping to protect the population against new Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV-positive cases caused from the use of unsafe injections. For the Government the introduction of the AD syringes means an additional cost of Rs. 36 crore per year on vaccination programme which would almost double the present vaccination budget of about Rs. 40 crore. "AD syringes will result in huge quantities of waste and the proposed method of waste disposal -- incineration and open burning -- releases deadly dioxins and other harmful pollutants into the air which needs to be done away with," explained Ratna Singh of Toxics Link.

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