Hyderabad: Improper or untreated bio medical waste spreading into a major epidemic is waiting to happen. As it turns out, there are around 1,500 health care facilities that are located in the city and almost 350 of them have no proper authorization for a proper disposal of waste.
The Forum for Good Governance (FGG), which had filed an RTI with the Pollution Control Board (PCB), says that the latter has not supervised or controlled the activities in hospitals.
“The hospitals need to employ a scientific approach for disposing the waste. There are 4,200 such hospitals with a bed capacity of 1.02 lakh across the State. In the city, these hospitals are dumping waste along with the municipal waste,” Mr M. Padmanabha Reddy, secretary of FGG, said.
He added that PCB must take stringent action against all violators, whose neglect has the potential to create a major health hazard.
“Currently, the PCB is limiting itself to issuing notices to these hospitals, which is like a slap on the wrist,” observed Mr Reddy.
The epidemic is not just limited to human health but also that of the environment, as tanks and water bodies in the city are used to wash blood-stained towels, bedspreads, among others.
“The contamination of the hospital waste and general garbage are getting mixed with soil and putting public health at risk,” he added.
While the PCB has put 11 common BMW treatment and disposal facilities, their working was not systematic, he alleged. Incidentally, although the Forum has written to the Chief Secretary, no action has been taken in this regard.
“We have urged the Governor to take action on a war-footing to ensure that the waste treatment plants begin functioning,” said Mr Reddy.
