Health dept spokesman says measures taken for disposal of waste;
LWMC responsible for lifting 75 percent private hospitals waste
LAHORE
A dedicated and properly monitored hospital waste lifting and disposal mechanism is immediately needed in the provincial capital to save the citizens from the hazardous effects of unchecked movement and use of highly risky and contagious hospital waste.
Presently under the law, every hospital (public and private), clinics and pathological laboratories are bound to segregate as well as dispose of all kind of waste, including risk waste generated on their premises. Hospital waste includes infectious material containing pathogens in sufficient concentrations or quantities that, if exposed, can cause diseases.
This includes waste from surgery and autopsies carrying infectious diseases. Other types of waste are disposable needles, syringes, saws, blades, broken glasses, nails or any other item that could cause a cut, tissues, organs, body parts, human flesh, foetuses, blood, body fluids, drugs, chemicals, solids, liquids and gaseous waste contaminated with radioactive substances used in diagnosis and treatment of different diseases.
It is pertinent to mention here that following loopholes in the present system, highly risk hospital waste is being leaked out and sold in open market, which is recycled and used for manufacturing of different plastic items especially daily use kitchen items, including plates, straws, dishes, glasses, spoons and etc. This is posing a very serious health threat to the citizens who are using these items without knowing their hazardous effects.
Other than the public hospitals where the Punjab government is taking several measures to streamline lifting and disposal of hospital waste, there is a dire need that Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) should establish a parallel hospital waste lifting and disposal system.
Experts said the Punjab government is working on various proposals for handling this issue in public hospitals but in private sector this issue is completely ignored and majority of them used to throw their waste in common dustbin and garbage, which is being lifted by LWMC in routine and without any special SOP.
A senior official of MCL, on anonymity, revealed horrible facts that the provincial capital has been turned into the centre point of hospital waste recycling and highly risk waste from all over the province is reaching Lahore for this purpose. He said the unofficial turnout of this recycling industry is over Rs1 billion per month.
A senior official in LWMC, seeking anonymity, said that before the inception of LWMC, the government’s spending on waste lifting and disposal was around Rs3 billion per year but after LWMC’s establishment this cost jumped to Rs15 billion per year. He said LWMC was established in March 2010, with a vision to transform the provincial metropolis as one of the cleanest cities in the world by providing customised solutions in the consultation with citizens and private partners to ensure sustainable, safe, clean and green environment.
However, the main motive of establishing LWMC was introduction of scientific methods for waste lifting and disposal and at that time hospital waste was a major concern of the authorities. He maintained that the company had failed in developing any mechanism for safe lifting as well as disposal of highly contagious hospital risk waste.
Giving example of unnecessary spending in LWMC, he said recently the company had spent Rs1 million on one day picnic at Rana Resort but when it comes to lifting of hospital waste and disposal it was said that it didn’t come under its preview. He agreed that a proper waste lifting system is needed immediately to save the citizens.Another senior LWMC official, seeking anonymity said that till recent past the company was working on developing services and facilities regarding hospital waste lifting and disposal and it used to mention this on its official website but recently the tab of hospital waste project was removed. However, he believed that LWMC should construct scientific disposal system for hospital waste on its own so that it can properly dispose of risk waste, which it collected from private sector.
He said the company used to sign agreements with private housing societies, shopping malls and other corporate entities for lifting and disposal of their waste then why not it can provide similar services to public and private hospitals. "This is just like taking an initiative to reach the goal of Clean and Green Lahore," he said demanding the government to direct LWMC to work in this regard.
The official, who is in LWMC’s operation department, revealed that waste lifted from several public and private hospitals included risk and infectious waste but the company has no policy of segregation of this waste from the municipal and ordinary waste. He admitted that company workers involved in lifting of waste from outside public or private hospitals may contract with infectious diseases. Naseemur Rehman, a senior EPD official revealed that various proposals of engaging the LWMC directly with lifting and disposal of hospital waste were discussed in the past but nothing was finalised so far. He maintained that one proposal is handing over Children’s Hospital state-of-the-art incinerator to LWMC, second proposal is that LWMC may construct two modern autoclaves at Lakhodair while another proposal is that it could think for construction of incinerators of different capacity at every public hospital. He said Health department has recently approved installation of modern incinerators with double chamber technology at 14 districts of Punjab. The scribe repeatedly tried to contact LWMC MD Bilal Mustafa and LWMC’s GM Planning Nusrat Gill on phone but to no avail. Text messages were also sent to them regarding the story.
Later, LWMC’s spokesman contacted the scribe and categorically said that lifting and disposal of hospital waste is not under the LWMC preview but is the responsibility of Health Department, Punjab. He said the company could make a strategy for providing this service but only on official request of Health Department. On a question that is LWMC making any plan to develop such facility where scientific disposal of hospital waste could occur, he said there were no such plans.
The News also tried to contact Khawaja Salman Rafique, Adviser to CM on Health as well as Secretary Health Punjab but they didn’t come on line; SMS were also sent to them.
When contacted, Ikhlaq Ahmed Khan, spokesman for Health department, said that public hospitals are generating 25 percent of total hospital waste and government has taken every measure for its safe lifting and disposal. He said LWMC is responsible for lifting 75 percent hospital waste which is being generated at private hospitals. Health department is holding meetings with LWMC as well as private hospitals across the province to overcome all leakages and loopholes.
