The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Hospitals told to bear waste handling costs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Hospitals told to bear waste handling costs

Staff Reporter

Stricter implementation of waste handling rules sought "The cost of handling biomedical waste per bed is very nominal."

CHENNAI : Toxics Link, a non-governmental organisation campaigning for environmental awareness, on Tuesday called for stricter implementation of waste handling rules. It also called on hospitals to internalise costs when handling biomedical waste.

At the inaugural of a three day workshop on "problems and prospects of managing biomedical, municipal and electronic waste," Toxics Link associate director Satish Sinha said even after 10 years of the notification of the Bio-Medical Waste Handling Rules, only 50 per cent of the hospitals in Tamil Nadu were complying with the rules.

He said hospitals needed to change their mindset about the cost of handling biomedical waste.

"They often consider it to be an additional expense and start looking for funds from outside. It would be better if they internalised it. The cost of handling biomedical waste per bed is very nominal."

Participants at the workshop also agreed that hospitals that did not handle their biomedical waste scientifically incurred additional expenses.

Improper handling of biomedical waste meant higher chances of secondary infection for the patients, additional spending on antibiotics, and ultimately a delay in discharge of patients from the hospital.

E-waste

The sessions on the first day of the seminar dealt with bio-medical waste disposal and use of toxic chemicals in healthcare systems. The sessions on the next two days will include discussions about electronic waste.

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