Bio-medical waste (BMW) weighing 4,575 metric tonnes was disposed of in an open dumping ground at Deonar along with municipal solid waste instead of landfills between 2003 and 2008, thus posing health hazards for residents in and around the area.
However, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has not authorised a single secured landfill forcing the hospitals to violate the health norms. What is more shocking is that there are 901 hospitals and nursing homes in the city which do not have authorisation for disposal of BMW. These are some of the shocking revelations in the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) report 2008. The report was made public on Saturday.
The report while pointing out the performance of the environment department expressed unhappiness over the lackadaisical functioning of the MPCB. It also indicated that the administration has not strictly ensured the implementation of the guidelines for medical waste disposal, thus allowing the hospitals a free hand.
“Physical verification of sites revealed that in two hospitals (Bhabha and Sarvodaya) in Mumbai, bottles, intravenous fluid bottles, needles, syringes etc were not disposed of in the prescribed manner. There were not disinfected with 1% hypochlorite as required. In fact, on the date of inspection, there was no stock of the solution in Sarvodaya hospital,” said the report.
The committee for advising the government and MPCB on the implementation of BMW rules, 1998, met once during 2003-08. It revealed that till March 2007, 8,168 hospitals and nursing homes (46%) in state neither had an individual facility nor joined common treatment facility for disposal of the waste. None of the 4,710 veterinary institutions under the jurisdiction of animal husbandry department had obtained authorisation under bio-medical waste (management and handling) rules 1998 from MPCB.
Citing examples, the report said, “MPCB has given authorisation to Dr DY Patil Medical College and Hospital (Kolhapur) for operating of a single chamber incinerator in spite of the requirement of a double chamber incinerator (primary and secondary) for treatment of the medical waste.”
