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| CD hospital –visit for cures, also for ailments | | Bio-medical waste posting threat to patients, others in vicinity | | SALMAN NIZAMI
JAMMU MAY 17: Thronged every day by hundreds for treatment, the Government Chest Diseases Hospital at Bakshi Nagar is not only a destination for cures of the chest disorders but also a source of some of the ailments.
The heaps and bounds of bio medical waste including used syringes just on the hospital’s door step in government Chest Disease Hospital can be infectious and can spread diseases like TB.
In gross violation of the bio medical Waste Management and handling rules, most of the health institutions flout these norms, endangering the health of several patients as they are supposed to visit for treatment. More than 10,000 kg of hazardous bio- medical waste is generated in the state every day, which hints at the amount of infectious waste that is out there.
In Talab Tillo area, when it rains and water from the mini canal spills over to the road, the bio- medical waste, thrown in to the mini canal, gets spread over the roads with the swelling waters, exposing the state of health institutions with regard to their bio- medical waste handling. Similar is the situation of bio – medical waste handling at many places around SMGS hospital too. “We are the worst suffers because being habitants of the area and during school timings the quantity of wastage is in bulk on the roads. School goers face the worst as they don’t wear masks” said Sham Sunder of Talab Tillo and added some times scavengers get injuries due syringe needles thrown carelessly by the concerned departments.
According to sources even the worn, out incinerators in Jammu’s Medical College don’t have pollution control devise like the soot filters, due to which the incineration of the bio- medical waste is adding to the pollution level in the city. The few incinerators in some of the government hospitals in Jammu are insufficient in dealing with the large amount of waste generated. Each bed generates a bio medical waste of nearly 3 kg per day per patient. As Jammu has a collective bed capacity of more than 6000 and Kashmir more than 5500, one can imagine the quantum of bio medical waste generated on a daily basis.
Insulators have been established and are being used regularly but people throw wastage haphazardly which cause inconvenience, said Principal Government Medical College Dr. Rajinder Singh while talking to early Times.
Medical experts have been stressing that a centralized facility, handled and monitored by one particular agency must be set up, where the type of waste requiring incineration can be destroyed collectively, but that has not been materialized yet .According to Dr. Yashpal an expert on bio- medical waste management, in the absence of common bio medical waste treatment facility.
Mostly the incinators are operating below the required temperature of 1000-1200c, the study stated, adding that even plastic (Chlorinated) should not be incinerated, is also being incinerated along with other wastes. Bio medical waste (Management and Handling) rules, being now referred to as BMW, came into being on July 20 1998, with amendments of March 6th and June 2nd, 2000 respectively.
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