CHENNAI: Discord between the Kancheepuram corporation and the government headquarters hospital in Ennaikaran over the responsibility to handle solid waste, has resulted in mounds of garbage piling up at the hospital. According to the hospital management, the corporation has refused to pick up the general waste from the hospital citing Solid Waste Management Rules.
Generating over 200 kg of general waste daily, the hospital has been categorised as a ‘bulk waste generator’ (entities that generate over 100 kg of waste daily). Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 mandate that bulk waste generators must manage their waste within their premises through bio-methanation or other means like composting.
After the corporation made it clear that they wouldn’t clear the waste several years ago, the hospital management posted two housekeeping staff each in three shifts, including nighttime, to segregate the waste and dispose of it. However, since the hospital generates over 200 kg of general waste every day, the workers are not able to clear it in its entirety even after toiling day and night for years.
When TNIE visited the hospital premises, the housekeeping contract staff were seen searching through mounds of garbage tolerating a gut-wrenching stench. “We have been doing this for years. We don’t have a problem with hospital duty, but the garbage segregation duty makes us fall ill often. Since we don’t have any other option we continue toiling in the waste,” said a housekeeping staff.
Adjacent to the hospital mortuary, mounds of garbage furnish the scenery. Groups of wailing family members waiting to receive the mortal remains of their dear ones, are often meted out the misery of tolerating the unbearable stench that emanates from the garbage heaps. A hospital source said the problem arose after the pandemic and the corporation refused to collect general waste from the hospital without segregating it as biodegradable and degradable wastes.
“Sacks of garbage are segregated daily. The corporation contractors will come and take it when we request them. Even then, they don’t collect it regularly. They will come once every two days or so,” the source added.
Medical superintendent of the hospital Dr V Balakrishnan said disposing of biomedical medical waste is no hassle for the hospital. “However, that’s not the case with general waste. The corporation insisted that we segregate it, which we have been doing. But still, they don’t regularly clear it. We are even ready to hire a lorry and clear the mounds of waste ourselves if the corporation guides us as to where to dump it. But, it can only be a temporary solution,” he added.
Kancheepuram Corporation Commissioner V Navendhiran said all bulk waste generators have to segregate and dispose of the waste themselves. “The corporation can only provide them technical support. We are not collecting general waste from any institution that daily generates over 100 kg of waste,” he said.
When asked why other hospitals, including the medical college hospitals in Chennai, were not facing such a problem, Navendhiran said, “Depending on the local conditions, some civic bodies might be collecting it. But we are not doing it. Processing it by the institution itself is the permanent solution. The hospital has adequate manpower. So they can manage their garbage.”