THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even after repeated complaints by the residents and warnings by the Pollution Control Board, tonnes of biomedical waste is being dumped inside the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital premises.
The vacant land is now dotted with a large number of green bags filled with all kinds of biomedical waste such as used syringes, gloves, masks, PPE kits and bloodstained cotton and bandages, all mixed with other garbage, from the hospital. However, the hospital authorities claim that the green bags only contain the non-biomedical waste.
However, many residents have pointed out that not just the non-biomedical waste, the green bags which have been dumped carelessly in the vacant land consists of all kinds of biomedical waste and that it has turned out to be a breeding spot for mosquitoes and other insects, posing a health risk, especially when the pandemic threat looms large.
Federation of Residents Association (FRAT) Thiruvananthapuram general secretary M S Venugopal says, “Complaints have been raised by the residents living near the medical college area several times regarding the uncontrolled dumping of biomedical and non-biomedical waste in the area which poses a serious health risk.
The hospital authorities are not to be blamed for this, but it is the duty of the staff deployed by the city corporation to segregate and dispose of such waste. It is doubtful if proper disposal of non-biomedical and biomedical waste generated at the hospital is being practised and monitored by the city corporation.”
Explaining the importance of a centralised waste management in the district, Venugopal says, “Like other countries, setting up waste treatment plants will only help in eliminating the waste issue in the city. Very often, it has been noticed that the plastic waste and other kinds of garbage collected from houses, hospitals and commercial establishments are not treated properly and sometimes dumped carelessly on roadsides, in water bodies nearby and even burnt without taking proper measures. This is a wrong practice which is being followed but often goes unchecked. The situation has worsened and even used masks are being dumped on roadsides, posing potential health risks.”
The huge pile of biomedical waste dumped on the MCH campus has added to the woes of the residents who are living in fear of contracting infections.
“For many years, the situation has been the same and now it has worsened. The quantity of biomedical waste dumped has been increasing day by day. When it rains, the situation becomes worse with the waste water flowing near our houses spreads a foul smell in the air. The mosquitoes have also increased leading to diseases like dengue and malaria. Although repeated complaints have been made to the corporation and other authorities concerned, the issue hasn’t been resolved,” said a resident.
Kerala State Pollution Control Board chairman Pradeep Kumar A B said, “Based on the complaints from residents, we had inquired about the unscientific dumping of waste in the MCH area. However, it was observed that only the non-biomedical waste was being dumped. Not just the MCH premises, heaps of waste are being dumped near roadsides across the city. We have already brought this issue to the notice of the corporation officials so that proper action is taken against the unscientific disposal of both biomedical and non-biomedical waste.”
Pradeep added that the board had earlier issued a notice to the MCH authorities for the unscientific dumping of biomedical waste on its campus. “Training was also given to the staff in the safe handling of biomedical waste. We had also warned several other hospitals that violated the rules in the past. If the violation is repeated, strict action will be taken against the hospitals,” he added.
Meanwhile, corporation officials said that they are unaware of the incident. Biomedical waste is usually handed over to IMAGE (IMA - Goes Eco-Friendly), which is the only biomedical waste handling facility functioning in the state, they said.
According to IMAGE authorities, their facility has been treating more than seven tonnes of Covid waste daily and around 35 tonnes of non-Covid biomedical waste from affiliated hospitals across the state.
“Biomedical waste from the hospitals is usually collected in four colour-coded bags such as yellow, white, blue and red. Although strict instructions have been given to the hospital authorities to follow the guidelines, these are not always followed. As a result, biomedical waste ends up with non-biomedical waste,” said an IMAGE official.
Dangerous litter
Used syringes, gloves, masks, PPE kits and bloodstained cotton and bandages constitute most of the biomedical waste. If not disposed of properly, these could mix in the soil and rainwater, leading to groundwater pollution and disease spread