Gujarat's 27% healthcare facilities 'mixing up' biomedical and municipal waste: Study

By A Representative
Finding “serious gaps” in disposing of biomedical waste in Gujarat, a new study, jointly carried out by Delhi-based environmental group Toxics Link in collaboration of Ahmedabad’s Paryavaran Mitra, has found that 13% of health facilities in what India’s powers-that-be consider “model state” have not even tied up with a Common Bio Medical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF), a condition without which they are not allowed to operate under law.
Worse, in a “grave” violation, the study said, 27% of the surveyed facilities are mixing their biomedical waste with municipal waste, while 15% facilities are disposing of their hazardous waste along with biomedical waste (BMW). This not only violates the law but also leads to increased infectious waste volumes as well as release of toxic products into the environment.
According to the study, titled ‘Don’t Dump That’, which seeks to assess the current status of hospital waste management in four major districts of Gujarat – Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Gandhinagar and Sabarkantha – most healthcare facilities including clinics pay no attention to occupational health and safety of the healthcare staff.

Thus, it said, activities like needle recapping were prevalent in 87% of the facilities and around 90% lacked any policy for post exposure prophylaxis. Pointing out that absence of needle cutters from important points in hospitals is a serious concern and may result in needle stick injuries and also needle reuse, it added, needle injuries have been globally identified as one of the key reasons for the spread of infectious diseases like Hepatitis and HIV among health care staff.
Satish Sinha, associate director, Toxics Link, cautioned, “The biomedical waste management rules in Gujarat are not being implemented on ground by most healthcare facilities specially the small clinics. Regulatory agencies need to strengthen the system and take legal action against healthcare facilities not following proper norms and also closely monitor the CBWTFs.”
The study, which collected data on biomedical waste management practices pre-Covid from 145 healthcare facilities from these four districts, including government and private hospitals and small clinics, found that the segregation practices were not proper in many of the facilities.
Most of the facilities visited had not installed an effluent treatment plant and many of them were not even connected to tertiary effluent treatment plants and were releasing liquid waste directly into the sewage system, it added.
The study further said, many hospitals were also not pre-treating their laboratory waste which is required as per the rules. Since most of the healthcare facilities are operating without adhering to the norms of the biomedical waste 2016 rules, it raises a question on the quality of monitoring mechanisms being adopted in the state.

The study found the condition of the waste storage areas in most hospitals poor and violating the norms laid by the 2016 rules, adding, the concerns related to functioning of CBWTFs, as there have been several reports earlier of the violations by some of them. “We found bags filled with waste lying unattended in some of the hospital premises”, said Paryavaran Mitra’s Mahesh Pandya.

Some key findings

Most healthcare facilities (HCFs) do not have their own websites, which is mandatory under the new rules
Most HCFs have not uploaded their annual report on their website, mandatory under the new Rules.
Biomedical waste generation records highlight improper reporting and mixing of general waste with biomedical waste.
Poor infrastructure in the storage areas, basic requirements not met.
13% facilities visited under the study not connected to CBWTFs
27% facilities disposing municipal solid waste along with biomedical waste
15% facilities disposing hazardous waste along with biomedical waste
Filled waste bags lying unattended in the hospital premises
19% facilities not pre-treating their microbiological waste/lab waste
Most facilities lack pre-treatment equipment like microwave/ autoclave
None of the hospitals have installed effluent treatment plant
Recapping of needle, a frequent activity seen in 87% HCFs and in 100% clinics
Lack of policy for post exposure prophylaxis
Information and communication material not placed at strategic locations
Case study and existing reports show appalling conditions of CBWTFs

Comments

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Gujarat agate worker, who fought against bondage, died of silicosis, won compensation

Raju Parmar By Jagdish Patel* This is about an agate worker of Khambhat in Central Gujarat. Born in a Vankar family, Raju Parmar first visited our weekly OPD clinic in Shakarpur on March 4, 2009. Aged 45 then, he was assigned OPD No 199/03/2009. He was referred to the Cardiac Care Centre, Khambhat, to get chest X-ray free of charge. Accordingly, he got it done and submitted his report. At that time he was working in an agate crushing unit of one Kishan Bhil.

Budget for 2018-19: Ahmedabad authorities "regularly" under-spend allocation

By Mahender Jethmalani* The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC's) General Body (Municipal Board) recently passed the AMC’s annual budget estimates of Rs 6,990 crore for 2018-19. AMC’s revenue expenditure for the next financial year is Rs 3,500 crore and development budget (capital budget) is Rs 3,490 crore.

Licy Bharucha’s pilgrimage into the lives of India’s freedom fighters

By Moin Qazi* Book Review: “Oral History of Indian Freedom Movement”, by Dr Licy Bharucha; Pp240; Rs 300; Published by National Museum of Indian Freedom Movement The Congress has won political freedom, but it has yet to win economic freedom, social and moral freedom. These freedoms are harder than the political, if only because they are constructive, less exciting and not spectacular. — Mahatma Gandhi The opening quote of the book by Mahatma Gandhi sums up the true objective of India’s freedom struggle. It also in essence speaks for the multitudes of brave and courageous individuals who aspired to get themselves jailed for the cause of the country’s freedom. A jail term was a strong testimony and credential of patriotism for them. The book has been written by Dr Licy Bharucha, an academically trained political scientist and a scholar of peace studies and Gandhian studies, who was closely associated throughout her life with those who made the struggle for India’s independence the primar...

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit.

Covid response? How, gripped by fear and groupthink, scientists 'failed' children

By Bhaskaran Raman* “Today’s children are tomorrow’s future”, “Nurture children’s dreams”, “A child’s smile is sunlight”. These are some cliches, rendered rather uninspiring through repetition and obviousness. However, for nearly 2½ years, society forgot these cliches, children suffered as science failed and groupthink prevailed. Worse, all of this has been swept under the rug.

Search This Blog