In Chennai city, 75% of biomedical waste strewn all over
Posted on: 17/Dec/2019 9:52:58 AM
It is known that a total of 60 tonnes of toxic biomedical wastes are being generated per day in Chennai. The important information is out of these 60 tonnes less than 15 tonnes or 25% of biomedical waste has been sent for safe disposal by the hospitals and labs.
The remaining 75% of the biomedical waste is strewn in and around Chennai. In other words, the wastes are left to rot in the open. Point to be noted is this strewn biowastes could lead to health issues for the people as well as the animals.
There is still no clear assessment regarding the number of waste hospitals, labs and blood banks in Chennai generate per day and this is after nearly 2 decades since union environment ministry made it compulsory for the states to ensure safe disposal of healthcare wastes.
There are as many as 800 healthcare facilities in Chennai ad this was revealed by the recently formed district level monitoring committee chaired by Chennai collector. It must be taken into account that the directorate of medical services has received more than 4000 applications for registration under the Clinical Establishment Act.
Mr D. Sekar, member secretary of TNPCB, explained how most of the corporate hospitals in Chennai collect the biomedical wastes and dispose of them properly whereas smaller clinics dump them everywhere. The shocking piece of information is in the recent months TNPCB had received many complaints from the residents belonging to places like Anakaputhur, Kundrathur, Vandalur etc regarding dumping of wastes on the open grounds and in the water bodies etc.
He threw light on how the inspector informed the local bodies, handed over some of the biomedical wastes to the authorized agencies and even brought down the shutters of a healthcare facility at Pallavaram.
