PIMS set to begin incinerating waste by itself

Islamabad: If things go as planned, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences will begin destroying its infectious waste by itself within a fortnight after the operationalisation of two incinerators on its premises.

The imported furnaces both electrical and gas-fired will save the federal capital’s largest government hospital more than Rs10 million annually currently spent on the outsourcing of waste disposal.

The 1100-bedded PIMS pays Rs80 per kg to the Rawalpindi-based and Attock Refinery Limited-owned National Cleaner Production Centre for incinerating its hazardous waste, including blood, blood products, body parts, swabs, tissues, lab cultures, surgical gloves, needles, scalpels, cultures and excreta, while the non-infectious waste, which consists of liquids, paper, plastics, and other trash, is disposed of by the city’s civic agency, CDA.

On average, it generates two kilogrammes of waste per bed eight to 10 per cent of which is infectious, so the infectious waste produced daily weighs around 200kg. PIMS executive director Dr Raja Amjad Mehmood told ‘The News’ that the installation and operationalisation of two incinerators had got stuck in the slow lane due to some issues between the supplier and Punjab government.

He, however, said the supplier had assured him that the two furnaces having the capacity to burn 80-100 kilogrammes waste in an hour would become functional after undergoing test runs by the middle of this month.

The PIMS used to incinerate medical waste by itself more than a decade ago in four small brick kilns put up on the premises but the gradual decay of those clay furnaces caused the complete end to the activity by 2006. It later planned to install a modern incinerator and even got the mandatory no objection certificate from the Pak-EPA, regulator on environmental matters in Islamabad, for it in 2009 but the red tape threw a spanner in the works.

Earlier this year, the PIMS chief formally looked to Supreme Court Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who supervises the affairs of Islamabad’s government hospitals through regular visits, for help in the early procurement of two incinerators.

Instantly came the CJ’s intervention, which made the federal government transfer the requisite funds to the Punjab government’s bank account for the import of incinerators for PIMS in addition to 28 needed by its own hospitals.

Dr Raja Amjad said the Pak-EPA had granted the mandatory environmental approval to the initiative for three years, while the supplier was bound by contract to ensure the incinerators’ operation and maintenance for the period. He said the installation of two incinerators was meant to prevent halt to waste incineration as even if one went out of order, the other would continue burning waste.