Inaction making situation worse
State-run Rajshahi Medical College Hospital has coloured-bins at all of its wards for separating hazardous and infectious medical waste from general ones.
The separation, which is a mandatory for safe disposal, becomes meaningless. Because, at the end of every day when the hospital staff collect the bins, they mix most waste up and dump those at a designated point inside the compound.
The situation is worse in case of the private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres as they dump unsorted waste at another selected point at the city’s busy C&B intersection. Besides, those are also dumped in public dustbins.
In this way, all the city’s 205 healthcare establishments have not been safely disposing medical waste. The authorities concerned are not taking any action either.
It happens despite the fact that more than half of around three tonnes of medical waste generated daily are infectious and pose health risks, said health and environment officials.
For any healthcare facility, not having an incinerator, autoclave and effluent treatment plant to dispose of hazardous waste is a punishable offence, said Dr Gopendra Nath Acharya, regional director of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in Rajshahi.
“They [hospital, clinic authorities] do not arrange those on the plea of inability,” said the official.
He said coloured containers are provided to government institutions while private ones are asked to arrange those on their own.
“They separate those waste, but the move doesn’t bring results due to absence of proper disposal system,” said Dr Gopendra.
Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) has been managing medical waste since 2001 although not in proper way, he said.
RCC Mayor AHM Khairuzzman Liton said, “Medical waste management has been a matter of concern for years. We only took responsibility of carrying the waste to Nowdapara landfill.”
For a better management, the city corporation signed an agreement with PRISM in March. The NGO is likely to go into operation next year, he added.
SURVEY ON MEDICAL WASTE
Neither the RCC nor the DGHS has authentic data on the quantity of medical waste.
Before signing the deal, PRISM conducted a survey, said its Programme Coordinator Majharul Islam.
The survey has found that 205 healthcare facilities -- four government hospitals, 21 private hospitals, 95 general and dental clinics, 80 diagnostic and pathological centres and five blood banks -- generate at least 10.31 tonnes of general waste and 2.77 tonnes of medical waste on a daily basis.
Around 52.53 percent of the medical waste are infectious. Among the rest, 1.203 tonnes, 43.45 percent, are recyclable plastic waste, and 0.112 tonnes, 4.03 percent, are sharp objects.
RMCH INCINERATOR ITSELF A RISK
Only RMCH had set up an incinerator and all other medical institutions depend on it. But, the incinerator itself poses health risks as it is located between two wards inside the hospital, said Dr Gopendra Nath.
Besides, the incinerator’s burning capacity came down to 300 degree Celsius from required 3,000°C, said health experts.
Hospital sources said the incinerator had gone out of order many years ago and recently its chimney broke down.
RCC’S MANAGEMENT
Chief Conservancy Officer Sheikh Md Mamun said they manage 400 tonnes of clinical waste on an average.
Two supervisors ensure collection on rickshaw-vans from 205 medical units and then a group of workers transport those at the landfill by a truck. They bury amputated parts of human bodies.
While visiting, this correspondent found medical waste stored inside a room at the selected point inside RMCH, and on a road in front of it. The RCC staff were collecting those without wearing gloves.
The stored waste included bloodstained cottons, gauges, bandages, saline bags, pipes and syringes that were supposed to be segregated at the hospital.
Shariful Islam Masum, an RCC supervisor, said the hospital staff dump the waste on the road instead of the designated room to avoid serious odour.
He said they collect such waste from private hospitals and clinics in the same way.
Shadhin Islam, driver of a truck, said workers sometimes get hurt with sharp objects while loading the vehicle.
At the landfill, The Daily Star fond several boys and girls collecting recyclable items as soon as an RCC truck dumped medical waste.
Later, one Asadul Islam from the city’s Kalur Mor was sorting those out and putting them in sacks.
Asad said he collects per kg of such items at Tk 50 from the children and sell those to factories at Tk 60. “It’s my business and I do it to make a living,” he said.
This correspondent also saw medical waste in open dustbins in the city’s Beel Shimla, Laxmipur and Terokhadia.
DOE NOTICE OVERLOOKED
Mizanur Rahman, deputy director of Rajshahi regional office of Department of Environment, said the Medical Waste (management and processing) Rule of 2008 prohibits approval of medical establishments without proper waste management system.
“The city have no medical units that have proper medical waste management system,” he said, adding that they often serve notices on them. “We cannot take actions considering the necessity of health services,” he added.
WHAT RMCH SAYS
Saiful Ferdous, a deputy director of RMCH, claimed that they separate 90 percent of the recyclable items and syringes.
“Separating medical waste as per recommendations is not always possible due to a lack of skilled staff,” he said, adding that the hospital has only 75 trained cleaning staff and 210 workers were hired on daily payment basis.
CLINIC OWNERS’ VERSIONS
Mokhlesur Rahman, general secretary of the local unit of Bangladesh Private Hospital, Clinic and Diagnostic Centres’ Association, said they signed an agreement with the city corporation in 2014 for taking their regular waste to the designated points and hazardous items to RMCH incinerator.
As the incinerator does not function properly, they send all types of wastes to the designated points. “It is harmful, but we have nothing else to do,” he said.
About separation, he said, “If we don’t separate those waste as per order, our licences would not be renewed.”
PRISM’S PROJECT GOING ON
Under the agreement, PRISM is installing an autoclave, an incinerator, an effluent treatment plant and a burial point for human body parts on 33 decimal of land given by the RCC at the landfill.
PRIMS official Majharul Islam, however, said they will only dispose of the solid waste.
The project at Tk 2 crore is likely to be completed by February next year, he said.
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