CUTTACK: Bio-medical waste management in the SCB Medical College and Hospital (SCB MCH) here is in shambles as the lone incinerator has been lying defunct for the last nine months, posing threat to environment, health and hygiene of patients.
The premier government-run hospital generates around 10 tonne of bio-medical waste per day. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the waste generated from the hospital has also increased exponentially. But the defunct incinerator has affected the safe disposal of hazardous waste.
Sources said the incinerator was installed at SCB MCH around 10 years back. Having one-tonne capacity, the facility was used for combustion of waste in presence of oxygen in a controlled way in order to destroy it or transform it into less hazardous, less bulky or more controllable constituents. However, the facility have been lying defunct for last nine months due to lack of maintenance and repair.
As a result, tonnes of bio-medical waste have piled up on the premises of waste treatment plant of the hospital. The private agency engaged in the waste management had to shift the waste in trucks to Berhampur in Ganjam for incineration without adhering to the standard operating procedure. The bio-medical waste is also found scattered on the roadside, alleged Ajay Mohanty, president of Maitree Sansad, a city-based voluntary organisation.
Expressing concern over the issue, Mohanty had sought the intervention of Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), Central Range, Anil Samal. Acting on the letter, the RDC has recently directed the Superintendent of SCB MCH to take steps towards repair of the incinerator.
Mohanty has also filed a complaint at Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) in this regard.
Though the SCB MCH authorities have already made an estimate of Rs 20 lakh towards repair and restoration of the incinerator, the government is yet to approve its proposal, Mohanty alleged. The SCBMCH authorities have written six letters to the DMET between June and December last year but to no avail. “We have sought the amount from the government to repair the defunct incinerator,” Superintendent of SCB MCH Prof Lucy Das said.