The Bombay High Court has cracked the whip on the BMC and the MPCB in response to a writ petition filed by an NGO that bio-medical waste was not being properly disposed off in the city.
The Bombay High Court has cracked the whip on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) in response to a writ petition filed by an NGO that bio-medical waste (BMW) was not being properly disposed off in the city.
By-products arising out of medical treatment and procedures form substantial bio-mass which is hazardous and needs efficient and quick disposal.
Bio-medical Waste Management Act and Rules have been in place since 1988, but it is not until recently that attention was given to them. The Act specifies how bio-medical waste is to be collected, segregated and finally disposed off in a hygienic manner. What they didn’t realise was the vast number of clinics and hospitals coming under its purview, the apathy of citizens and the mushrooming of hospitals, nursing homes and clinics.
Indiscipline in the medical profession has seen gross violation of norms and conditions essential for public safety, which drew ire of the high court. Though all doctors agree that it is necessary to dispose of BMW safely, the costs involved are proving a tough hurdle. The rules demand that the doctor segregate different types of BMW into different bags, and then hand them over only to a licensed disposal agent.
However, with only a few agents nominated for pickup and disposal of BMW, the rates have gone to unrealistic heights which only top hospitals and nursing homes can afford. Also, the minimum rates applicable to hospitals are also applied to dispensaries, clinics and polyclinics, where the turnover of BMW may be a few grams every day.
Non-adherence to the rules means a penalty of Rs20,000 at the bare minimum for the defaulter, and a few cases have already been registered in this direction.
Resentment at such practices has led to ‘short cuts’ at the collecting agency level. Where BMW is supposed to be collected from all sites every alternate day in four separate bags, the agents make do with a weekly visit and the material is collected in one bag only. Collecting agents have now started a ‘protection racket’ in which registration with them automatically leads to immunity from checks.
While the MPCB and the BMC have gone into overdrive in their zeal to dispose of BMW, various options like allowing doctors to start their own collectives to dispose the waste or setting up specified BMC sites where BMW can be dumped have never been considered.
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