Pollution Control Board turns blind eye to state hospitals in Telangana

Hyderabad: It is not just small medical establishments, bio-medical waste is disposed of in the open even by government hospitals like Niloufer, Gandhi, Osmania and maternity hospitals.

“The whole area has a rotten smell. Even the canteen that prepares food for patients and doctors is not spared. The hospital itself is becoming the breeding ground for diseases,” said a junior doctor at Niloufer Hospital.

K. Shivaanand, a resident of Kukatpally Housing Board, said, “Everything from body parts to blood-soaked bandages, used bottles; syringes are openly dumped near the open drainage. The municipal workers burn the waste.”

An estimated seven tonnes of biomedical waste is produced every day by the 800-odd hospitals in the city.

However, the Pollution Control Board that needs to monitor the hospitals for bio-medical waste dumping, has not conducted checks for months.

An officer with the Pollution Control Board said, “We conduct checks when we get an order from the head office. The last check conducted at government hospitals was three months back.”

The Telangana state Pollution Control Board has not updated information regarding the checks conducted on the state government hospitals or the reports prepared by their teams.

M. Shiva Reddy, joint chief environmental engineer, said, “This is being taken care of by the regional officials. They conduct the checks and we have not received any adverse complaints so far.”