Medical Waste: Capital lacks incinerator

He said CDA workers and private contractors collect the hospitals’ waste and then dump it along with municipal waste

ISLAMABAD: There is no incinerator in the capital for disposing of medical waste from dozens of public and private hospitals, and are instead being dumped improperly in garbage heaps, said a Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences official. He said even the country’s the leading hospital did not have an incinerator for properly handling medical waste. Additional District Health Officer Dr Najeeb Durrani said improper disposal of medical waste was dangerous for the health of citizens and could spread infectious diseases. An official in Enforcement Section of Environmental Protection Agency said the environment body conducted a survey in which it found that 60 leading hospitals in Islamabad, including both public and private health facilities, were not adopting proper methods to dispose of their medical waste. He said Capital Development Authority workers and private contractors collect the hospitals’ waste and then dump it along with municipal waste.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2016.