Used masks, gloves dumped on roads

Like elsewhere, use of disposable gloves and masks has increased rapidly in Sylhet due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but most of the items are not being disposed of properly and thrown on roads, posing a serious health risk.

While visiting Chowhatta and Kajalshah areas -- where the coronavirus isolation centre at Sylhet Saheed Shamsuddin Ahmed Hospital and Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital are situated -- and some other parts of the city recently, this correspondent saw a notable amount of discarded gloves and masks at roadsides.

According to doctors and health officials, people including conservancy workers of Sylhet City Corporation are at high risk from these used materials.

Dr Himangshu Lal Roy, deputy director of Osmani Medical College Hospital, said, "The virus can survive a few hours, while some say even for days, in masks and gloves. Since no one knows for sure who is infected, there's a risk of contracting it from the used materials, if they are not disposed of properly."

Dr Anisur Rahman, assistant director (disease control) of Sylhet divisional health office, said the city corporation should be aware about the safety of their workers -- who work with bare hands -- as well as residents, by managing the waste in a proper way. 

"The corporation should set up dedicated dumpsters for used masks and gloves," he suggested.

Healthcare experts also urged people to be more aware and dispose of the items properly in a separate closed bin.

Contacted, Dr Md Jahidul Islam, chief health officer of SCC, said, "We have arranged personal protective equipment for our conservancy workers. As the transmission in Sylhet is not at community level yet, we have been ordered [by the higher authorities] not to use them. But for safety, we have asked our workers to use gloves and masks. As most of them are not aware, they at times prefer not to."

About safe disposal of gloves and masks, he said, "We're monitoring the situation and will take necessary measures in this regard."

Awareness is a must in this regard, he stressed, urging residents to be more alert in this regard.