BENGALURU: Meridian Medical Centre in Frazer Town was recently charged with dumping biomedical waste in Avalahalli Lake at JP Nagar 6th Phase. Injection bottles, blood and urine samples and blood-stained gloves were found in the waste. Bills from the centre found in the waste did the centre in and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike fined it Rs 1 lakh.
Meridian denied the charges saying it gives its waste to a centre in HRBR Layout.
Whoever is at fault, the case is, in fact, a pointer to the larger issue.
It is not unusual to find hazardous medical waste mixed with common solid waste in the city. One of the reasons for it could be the inadequate number of medical waste treatment plants in the city.
There are 1,484 healthcare facilities in Bengaluru, according to the Fire Department. But there are only three biomedical waste treatment plants in the city - Medicare Environmental Management Pvt Ltd, Maridi Eco Industries and Anu Autoclave. The plants can hardly cope with the quantum of waste.
The situation in the rest of the state is no better.
Karnataka generates 54 tonnes of biomedical waste per day from 26,724 healthcare establishments with a total of 1.71 lakh beds. But there are only 25 biomedical waste treatment plants in the state. The silver lining is that five more are in the pipeline. The treatment plants charge hospitals on per-bed basis.
According to Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016, all clinical establishments like hospitals, nursing homes, blood banks, clinics, veterinary centres, pathological laboratories, research and educational institutions, first aid rooms of schools and forensic and research laboratories are required to abide by the rules.