HYDERABAD: In a rare discovery, authorities unearthed 9.6 tonnes of biomedical waste stacked at a piece of land in Quthbullapur, meant for sale as scrap.
While this has raised enough health concerns, the case has also thrown light on the need for effective tracking and tracing of biomedical waste in transit, as mandated by law.
All the well known corporate hospitals whose names have popped up in this issue have maintained silence whereas the biomedical waste collectors have denied any role in the same.
The collection of biomedical waste from health care establishments is done as per the Biomedical Waste Rules, 2016 which was hailed for adding the feature of bar coding.
The rule mandates that the colour coded bags in which biomedical waste is segregated and transported should have bar codes to ensure that the waste does not end up in unscrupulous hands.
However, the Quthbullapur issue has cast doubts over the bar coding system because when three of the four government authorised biomedical waste management agencies were contacted, they claimed that they are following the bar code system.
This includes Medicare Environmental Management Private Ltd (MEMPL), which collects and treats biomedical waste from close to 700 healthcare establishments in Hyderabad and Rangareddy including the ones whose names popped up in Quthbullapur issue.
An official of MEMPL said, “We are sticking bar code stickers when the biomedical waste segregation bags are provided to the hospitals. When we get the bags, we scan the bar code and details are saved but this does not help in tracking the bags.”
He further said, “A standard operating procedure is required for the bar code system to prove effective.
For tracking, there should be bar code scanners at the hospital’s end as well and there should be a common server where the details can be entered by hospital before they send their waste. Once we get all the biomedical waste bags and scan them, the details entered on the server will make it easy to verify if we got the same bags of same weight.”
However, Telangana State Pollution Control Board blamed the biomedical waste collectors for not following bar coding system. A senior official said, “There are four agencies which collects biomedical waste from Hyderabad and Rangareddy to treat the waste. About two of these agencies are not following the bar code system properly.”