Kerala - Kozhikode   

Row over discharge of waste from hospitals

Staff Reporter

MCH, IMCH under pressure to set up treatment plant

KOZHIKODE: The Medical College Hospital (MCH) and Institute of Maternal and Child Health (IMCH) authorities are under pressure to set up a waste treatment plant to find a solution to the problem posed by the discharge of waste from the hospitals to the neighbouring areas.

Talks held on Monday between the authorities and local people on the issue had failed to reach a settlement. The former Ombudsman for Local Self-Government Institutions K.P. Radhakrishna Menon had ordered to set up a waste treatment plant. The IMCH superintendent, M.K. Mohankumar, said that the proposal was to set up a waste treatment plant at a cost of Rs.1 crore.

The amount is from the Hospital Development Committee fund of the MCH and IMCH. The idea is to treat the wastewater and discharge it through pipes into the public drains, if possible.

Drain system

The drain system has to be located along the Mavoor Road. Once the water is treated, it can be used for several purposes, including watering plants. Hence, it is safe to discharge it through the public drain.

However, local people said that the plant would not solve the problem. "The authorities are planning to set up a plant with a capacity to treat only 15 lakh litres of wastewater. However, a total of 65 lakh litres of wastewater is being discharged a day from the two hospitals now." This is not acceptable for the local people. "What we are envisaging is a recycling plant where the wastewater treated should be used inside the hospitals only. Our stand is that not even a drop of water, even if treated, should be discharged outside," said T. Sugathan, secretary of the Parisara Malineekarana Nirmarjana Samithy. The details of the talks will be submitted to the Ombudsman at its sitting in Kozhikode this month.

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