VISAKHAPATNAM: Although the municipal authorities have taken measures to segregate biodegradable and non- biodegradable waste at the source of generation, the biomedical waste generated from hospitals in various areas in the city is still seen strewn on the roads, posing a health hazard to pedestrians and commuters.
Divya, an employee who resides in an apartment at Maharanipeta, said, “Although there is a provision for biomedical waste management, the hospital authorities seem to have turned a blind eye as I regularly see a few syringes and other hazardous medical waste surrounding the bins which are meant for domestic waste.”
“The dogs, a menace, rummage for some food in the regular bins, leading to the scattering of the bio-medical waste,” she added.
Puncture-proof container (PPC)- Needles, blades, etc are thrown into the PPC which may cause injury to the skin. It also contains 4 per cent fluorine hypochlorite to disinfect the blood from the blades and needles. Every PPC is disposed of after 14 days.
However, according to B Sivaji, executive director of Maridi Eco Industries (Andhra) Private Limited, “The condition is better than the previous years as most of the hospitals have now started to follow the norms and procedures of segregating the waste in the coloured bins.
“About 1.5-2 tonnes of biomedical waste is generated from as many as 520 centres, including the hospitals, labs, diagnostic centres, clinics and blood banks,” he added.
Since a few of the staff and hospital authorities are negligent, we are conducting training programmes to train the staff, free of cost, depending on the requirement to educate them on the importance of source segregation, stated the director of Maridi, the organisation which treats biomedical waste in the city.
While the KGH authorities are making all efforts to train their staff and sensitise them by making regular rounds and checks, the authorities at Apollo Hospitals said, “For the convenience of the housekeeping staff, we have pasted posters in every ward, which shows the colour and the type of waste to be dumped.”
Hemanth Kumar, the chief medical and health officer, GVMC, said, “Depending on the type and output that is generated, the waste is either incinerated, treated or deposited in the Kapuluppada yard.”