Waste management at Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital poses challenge

KOZHIKODE: Mounting waste disposal issues continue to dog the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital as an incinerator installed two years ago has stopped working for the last six months.

A Rs 15-lakh quotation for a new incinerator has been handed over to Malappuram Kerala Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (SIDCO).
Steps were initiated in May last year to install the new incinerator after the old one failed, but so far it has not materialised.

The old one was installed with a fund of Rs 15 lakh from the Hospital Development Authority. An official of the medical college said, "the hospital generates nearly 750 kilograms of waste which has become a serious issue now."

The incinerator could burn 150 kg of waste at a stretch, but the new incinerator will have a larger capacity, he added. The incinerator that burns commercial, residential and hazardous waste has the capacity to convert discarded materials, including paper, plastics, metals and food scraps into bottom ash, fly ash, combustion gases, wastewater treatment sludge and heat.