Kerala - Pathanamthitta   

Hospital waste causing pollution

Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

Stench emanating from liquid waste hits Kozhencherry town

HEALTH HAZARD: Fetid liquid waste flowing into the panchayat drainage through the compound wall of the District Hospital in Kozhencherry town.

PATHANAMTHITTA: The flow of liquid waste from the District Hospital into Kozhencherry town continues to be unchecked, posing serious health hazard in this Central Travancore town.

The fetid stench of the hospital waste flowing into the busy public place has hit the town, making a mockery of the prevailing laws of the land.

The waste flowing into the panchayat drainage through the compound wall of the District Hospital finally reaches the River Pampa in the upstream of the Kozhencherry Bridge.

What makes the situation worst is that the drainage carrying the hospital waste empties into the river a few metres downstream of the well of the Kerala Water Authority's drinking water supply scheme.

The waste flowing from the District Hospital has been a problem in Kozhencherry town for quite a long time. Ironically, the authorities had constructed a drainage along the Hospital Road to carry the filth into the river, blatantly violating the Hospital Waste Management Rules, as they thought it the `easiest' way to `pacify' the local traders who had been protesting against the free flow of waste on to the public road.

The courtyard of the maternity ward attached to the hospital has literally been turned into a waste-dumping yard, making it an ideal breeding place for mosquitoes and other pests.

The stench emanating from the hospital premises as well as the drainage has made life miserable to the local residents, the trading community and the passers-by. Neither the State Polution Control Board nor the district authorities have taken any step to solve the pollution problem.

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