KOCHI: Currently, the plant has five incinerators and one additional incinerator for emergencies. “Since the pandemic started, all five incinerators have been running round-the-clock to dispose of the additional biomedical waste generated in the state. To meet the treatment of additional biomedical waste generated every day, we are planning to install two more incinerators in the state.
However, we are yet to get the NO Objection Certificate (NOC) from authorities to begin the work,” said Dr P T Zacharias, president, IMA, Kerala. According to the IMAGE authorities, the additional biomedical waste is being treated by enhancing the operations of the extra incinerators.
Until the pandemic, the State Pollution Control Board had permitted the plant to treat 37 tonnes of biomedical waste per day. However, the Board has raised the limit to 55 tonnes now. IMAGE is currently catering to 16,000 hospitals — 1,800 government hospitals and 1,350 Covid19 treatment centres. Due to the lack of proper waste storage facilities, proper segregation of plastic and degradable waste becomes difficult. Recently, a huge amount of biomedical waste was seen carelessly dumped in a vacant land behind Thiruvananthapuram Medical hospital, raising health concerns.