Hospital dumping toxic materials openly

We are appalled at the way medical wastes were dumped by a street near the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation, as shown in a photograph published by this newspaper yesterday. The hazardous objects that were dumped need proper disposal and surely the hospital authorities must have known that. Such haphazard dumping of potentially toxic materials is utter disregard for public health and the environment and is in clear violation of law.

Under such circumstances, how is it that these materials have ended up on the roadside? The only explanation is that it must have been the hospital staff who had disposed of them in such manner. And given how openly and noticeably they are piled up by the wayside, it is literally impossible for the hospital authorities not to have noticed it or to have mistaken such careless disposal of medical wastes for anything else.

What we would like to know then is, what action did the hospital authorities take in this regard? And if the answer is none, then, why not? And what about the government authorities, those responsible for maintaining the city and the safety of its inhabitants?

The photograph in question shows only one such incident. But when government authorities are so apathetical to such clear dangers, one should not be surprised if this is, indeed, the norm. We hope this will serve as a wake-up call for the authorities and that they will, from now on, take appropriate measures against such carelessness which, in reality, is a culpable act.