Pims without a medical waste disposal unit

Hospital waste is any waste which is generated in the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) still does not have proper equipment of its own to dispose of the medical waste that it generates.

Hospital waste, according to Pakistan Antimicrobial Resistance Network, is “any waste which is generated in the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals or in research”. Medical waste is classified as infectious and a biohazard and must be disposed of properly.

An official at Pims told The Express Tribune that a waste management project for the hospital was first conceived as far back as 2006, but was delayed due to management issues.

A project proposal was finally forwarded to the Ministry of Health in 2009. The ministry says it then forwarded the proposal to the Planning Commission of Pakistan (PCP) for approval, but the project never materialised.

The plan was to install two state-of-the-art double-chamber incinerator plants at a cost of Rs50 million for disposal of hospital waste. The management also planned to make these incinerators available to other hospitals and clinics in the city. The incineration process consists of combustion and reduction of organic waste substances to ashes.

Thousands of people from the twin cities and their suburbs visit Pims everyday, generating about 100-150 kilogrammes in waste, according to an official at Pims. He believed that it was imperative for the hospital to install a proper medical waste disposal unit.

Meanwhile PCP and the Ministry of Health are busy blaming each other for the delay in the project. Asif Sheikh, spokesperson for PCP, said they had asked the Ministry of Health to prepare a list of important projects for approval and fund allocation. The list, he insisted, did not include the waste disposal project.

Dr Zahid Larik, Deputy Director General Planning and Development Wing at Ministry of Health, however said that they had already forwarded the project’s PC-1 to the commission.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 21^st, 2010.