Hospital waste: K-P govt allocates Rs200m to procure incinerator

SC hears that first tranche of Rs20 million has already been issued

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday was told that government hospitals in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were producing more waste than they had the capacity to dispose of.

However, the government has now allocated Rs200 million to procure and set up an incinerator.

This was disclosed before a three-member bench of the top court, led by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, heard a case on the poor condition of hospitals in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and disposal of waste on Wednesday.

During the hearing, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Department presented a report on the condition of hospitals in the province and facilities available on disposing of waste generated by health facilities.

The report noted that government hospitals in the province produce around 4.137 tonnes of waste every day. However, the current incinerators installed at health facilities have a capacity of processing only 4.08 tonnes of waste, a shortfall of around 57 kilogrammes.

During the hearing, CJP Nisar asked why K-P Health Minister Dr Hisham Inamullah Khan was not in the courtroom.

At this, the state lawyer told the court that he was not feeling well, hence could not make it to court. However, he pointed out that the K-P Health secretary was present while a report sought by the court on the state of K-P’s hospitals was also ready.

To address the shortfall between the waste produced and incineration capacity, the court was told that the provincial government had allocated Rs200 million for a project to procure an incinerator. Moreover, Rs20 million have already been released to get the project off the ground.

The case has subsequently adjourned for an indefinite period.

In the last hearing of the case, CJP Nisar had demanded that the provincial government provide a plan to dispose of the waste generated by hospitals in the province.

Dr Hisham had told the court that they were in the process of procuring machinery to dispose of the remaining waste.

By comparison, Dr Hisham told the court that private hospitals generate around 6.61 tonnes of waste every day.

The provincial health minister and the secretary had been further directed to submit affidavits.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2018.