WSSP asks EPA to ensure disposal of hospital solid waste

PESHAWAR: The Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) has contacted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to ensure proper disposal of solid waste of the public sector and private hospitals and clinics.

In a letter to the director general of the EPA, the WSSP’s General Manager Operation Ali-ur-Rahman said a number of government and private hospitals, clinics and laboratories in the provincial metropolis do not have proper incineration facilities for safe disposal of hazardous waste.

They are throwing the solid waste either in the municipal solid waste containers or dump it in the open space, which is injurious to public health, the letter stated.

This practice is against the Hospital Waste Management Rules 2005 and relevant EPA regulations which may cause epidemics in
the surrounding areas, it added.

The communication said it was the responsibility of the management of the hospitals concerned to treat the hospital waste before disposing it of at designated locations.  It said action should be initiated
against the hospitals and clinics to ensure proper disposal of the hazardous waste.