Health hazard: Medical waste seized, incinerated

District Environment Officer said the team had seized two maunds of medical waste in custody and had destroyed it

FAISALABAD:

The Environment Protection Department on Friday incinerated two maunds of medical waste.

District Environment Officer Malik Shaukat Hayat told newsmen that an enforcement inspector had been told that some people were illegally shifting medical waste from one site to another.

He said the inspector led a team for a raid at Jaranwala Road and found a man transporting medical waste on a donkey cart.  He said the man fled on seeing the team, leaving the donkey cart behind. He said the team had seized two maunds of medical waste in custody and had destroyed it. Hayat said, later a meeting of medical superintendents of public hospitals of Faisalabad was called. He said they were asked to make arrangements for incineration of medical waste at the hospitals.

He said they had been told that if medical waste originating from their hospital was found at any place in the city, action would be taken against the head of the hospital. Hayat said negligence in this regard would not be tolerated. “Safe disposal of medical waste should be ensured,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th,  2016.