CUTTACK: Disposal of biomedical waste in the state-run medical college and hospitals at Cuttack, Berhampur and Burla came into focus on Thursday with the Orissa High Court disposing of a PIL which was filed in 2003 with a direction to ensure functioning of incinerators at the three premier institutions.
The PIL centred around the contention that the indifferent attitude of the state government towards adopting prescribed norms and methods for disposal of biomedical waste had endangered the lives of patients in the three medical college hospitals and the people at large. The PIL was filed by city based voluntary organisation Maitree Sansad and advocate Ajay Mohanty represented it.
The court had passed several orders and ensured installation work of incinerators at SCB medical college and hospital in Cuttack, Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Burla and MKCG medical college and hospital in Berhampur.
The division bench of Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh and Justice Savitri Ratho on Thursday cited the court’s September 14, 2022 order for closing hearing on the PIL, which was pending for 21 years.
The order issued nearly two years ago had noted the affidavit filed by additional chief secretary Health stating that the incinerator under the Biomedical Waste Management Programme is fully functional at the SCBMCH with a login ID and password from the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB). The installed online continuous monitoring system (OCMS) is transmitting realtime monitoring data to the server of the SPCB. The incinerators in the MKCG Medical College hospital and VIMSAR Hospital have also been connected to the SPCB portal, the affidavit stated.
The bench said, “In such view of the matter, we dispose of the PIL with a direction to the additional chief secretary, state health and family welfare department to ensure that incinerators in the three state-run medical college hospitals in Cuttack, Burla and Berhampur are functional and if required, new incinerators be installed.”