Irresponsible disposal: Medical waste threatens public health

In the absence of an incinerator, public and private hospitals dispose of toxic waste outside their facilities

PESHAWAR:

As novel outbreaks continue to jeopardize public health across the global, the mismanagement of medical waste across major hospitals in the northern-province, risks instigating a bigger health crisis.

Despite international standards of medical waste disposal, mandating the use of an incinerator to safely burn hazardous materials such as used needles, syringes, removed organs, bodily fluid samples and contaminated equipment, a large number of hospitals across K-P continue to operate without the essential waste management machinery.

“So far we have issued legal notices to 35 public and private hospitals, including the Lady Reading Hospital, which are currently functioning without an incinerator and are disposing off their waste unsafely out in the open,” revealed an inspector from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on the condition of anonymity.

Hasan Khan, a student of Environmental Science at the University of Peshawar, seconded the inspector from EPA, as he reported personally witnessing huge amounts of medical waste lying around various hospitals in Peshawar.

“Not only are these piles of medical waste polluting the environment, but they are also spreading diseases among the children who scavenge through infected organs and tissues, in search of items like syringes and needles,” informed Khan.

According to Dr. Muhammad Nafees, Chairman of the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Peshawar, when hospitals throw invasive equipment like needles and other diseased organs recklessly outside their facilities, the children who collect these toxic materials for sale, can easily contract life threatening diseases like HIV/AIDS.

“In order to tackle the problem and prevent a possible epidemic, the K-P Health Department must join hands with EPA, in order to arrange for an incinerator immediately,” urged Dr. Nafees.

Speaking to the Express Tribune, Anwar Khan, Director General of EPA, addressed the growing health and environmental concerns raised by the unavailability of incinerators for a safe disposal of medical waste in hospitals.

“Even though we have sent legal notices to numerous public and private hospitals, urging them to use an incinerator, we cannot seal a medical facility on these grounds. The EPA has started working on allocating a designated area for waste disposal in partnership with the Water and Sanitation Services Company (WASA),” elucidated Anwar Khan.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2023.