Unhealthy attitude: The case of an inactive incinerator

Solid waste of the allied hospitals being sent to Attock for disposal.


Mudassir Raja July 21, 2011

RAWALPINDI:


The state of the health sector has gone from bad to worse in recent years and this can be illustrated by a visit to the government hospitals in Rawalpindi. Things continue to take a fall, as the only incinerator in public sector hospitals of the city has not been functional for four months now.


To add to that relevant authorities do not seem keen on attending to this problem and have been sending the solid waste to the incinerator installed at Attock Oil Refinery (ARL) instead, it has been learnt.

The incinerator installed at Holy Family Hospital (HFH) developed some fault in April suspending disposal of the hospital waste. Since then it has not yet been repaired.

Some officials close to the issue told The Express Tribune that the facility had developed faults making it unsafe to burn the waste.

“Over 150kg of solid waste is generated by the allied hospitals a day and as much waste is gathered from the private clinics and hospitals,” said an official of the hospital, requesting not to be named. “When the incinerator was functional some public hospitals of Islamabad used to send their waste for burning as well, which is not the case anymore,” he added.

The incinerator was installed in 2006, at a cost of Rs20 million to safely dispose of the hospital waste and to avoid the reuse of syringes, drip and blood bags.

An official said the administration of every public hospital has now been paying Rs25 a kg to the ARL authorities for burning the solid waste.

The authorities of the hospitals have obtained the services of the vehicles of City District Government for the transportation of the waste besides using their own transport. The administrations of the hospitals collect the waste and transport it twice a week to minimise the expenses, he further shared.

The HFH was earning the amount it is now paying to a private company, until the incinerator was working, he added. The hospital was charging Rs25 a kg by burning the waste of private hospitals.

Moreover, an official in the office of Rawalpindi Medical College said the city district government had asked the management of the allied hospitals not to dump solid waste in open and extended its help in transporting it to Morgah for safe disposal.

Dr Misbah Ahmed, the in-charge of the facility at HFH, declined to comment and said only Dr Raja Shafiq Sarwar, the official spokesperson of the hospital could comment on the issue. The spokesperson as well as Dr Muhammad Fiaz, Medical Superintendent of HFH could not be reached.

However, Rawalpindi Medical College Principal Dr Afzal Farooqi, when contacted, said the problem with the facility was not serious. He said the hospital management had floated tender for the repair of the incinerator and assured that it would be functional with full capacity soon.

The principal who also supervises the affairs of the three allied hospitals said the problem could have been solved earlier had the company repairing the incinerator not left the work incomplete.

The problem will not cost more than Rs300,000 and as soon as a new company agrees to fix the problem, the incinerator will become functional again, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2011.

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