The National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC) located in Morgah, Rawalpindi, does not have the capacity to incinerate all the medical waste generated in the twin cities. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL / EXPRESS
Participants at a meeting stressed the need to establish a central incineration or landfill facility for disposal of the capital’s hospital waste on Tuesday, according to a press release.
During a briefing on hospital waste management, hospitals’ representatives highlighted issues pertaining to generation, transportation and final disposal of infectious waste.
Public hospital officials said that they had planned waste disposal facilities but due to financial constraints they were not able to install incinerators. Private hospitals’ representatives said they were observing Hospital Waste Rules, 2005, but they faced difficulties in disposal of waste.
The National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC) located in Morgah, Rawalpindi, does not have the capacity to incinerate all the medical waste generated in the twin cities. The representative of NCPC stated that they have two incinerators with a capacity of 150 kilogramme (kg) an hour each.
Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) Director General Asif Khan said rules were not being fully observed in the hospitals due to which water air and soil contamination were adversely affecting public health. He stated that a survey of hospitals conducted by a technical team of Pak-EPA showed that 1,564 kg of infectious and hazardous waste is being generated daily by hospitals and hardly half of that is disposed of through incinerators.
If this continues, Pak-EPA will not hesitate to invoke relevant provisions of environmental law, he warned. An adequate infectious waste disposal facility should be established at the earliest, failing which legal action will be initiated under the environmental law, he added.
Concluding the session, Climate Change secretary stated that medical facilities should be provided a code for waste management. It was proposed that hospital waste management for doctors and paramedical staff should be included as a subject in the medical curriculum.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2013.
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Medical waste now comes under the catagory of hazardous waste since it may contain radioactive substace as well besides having pathogen .