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‘Less than 10 pc State hospitals under waste management regime’

BHUBANESWAR: Government hospitals at the district level appeared to be major defaulters in handling biomedical waste in the State.

Making a presentation at a workshop on Biomedical Waste Management here on Saturday, senior scientist of Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) Dillip Behera said less than 10 per cent of the government health care units had come under regulatory regime.

While compliance of the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998 had been encouraging on part of private health care units in the State, the government officials hardly responded to directives on treating medical wastages, he said on sidelines of the workshop which concluded here on Saturday.

The workshop attended by senior health administrators was organised by Multi Disciplinary Centre on Safety, Health and Environment (MDCSHE), a government autonomous body, here.

Mr. Behera said only 57 of about 600 government health institutions had got the authorization from the pollution control board on managing biomedical wastages.

On the contrary, around 400 out of some 700 private health care units got the consent of the board, he said. Although doctors heading government hospitals showed their reluctance on taking up the newer responsibility, they were told that managing medical waste materials was as important as supervising health care in their area.

To instil a sense of accountability, the OSPCB recently constituted a task force comprising scientist and doctor. Besides sensitizing on waste management, the task force would enforce regulatory consent. To date, six hospitals had been served closure notices due to their negligence in handling waste material, Mr. Behera said.

Of late some strong-worded show cause notices had begun to make impact. Capital Hospital fell in line and was using Common Biomedical Treatment Facility near Khurda.

The facility caters to different health care units operating in Cuttack, Choudwar, Khurda, Jatni, and Bhubaneswar town covering around 10,000 beds.

More than 100 nursing homes and hospitals are using the facility.

The senior scientist said the board was encouraging setting up of common facility since smaller nursing homes cannot afford space for waste management yard.

Now, it seems to be a tough ask for pollution control board to manage medical wastage generated through about 24,000 beds across the State.

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