Bio-medical waste disposal success story offers hope

In recent years, if you have not been hit by that terrible stench in hospital complexes and nursing homes, thank the city's pollution control authorities. Even though garbage collection and disposal remains flawed in Kolkata, this is a glimmer of hope, a success story that is inspiring and augurs well for the city's health and environment.
Bio-medical waste generated by clinical establishments is no longer dumped in the backyard to rot with sundry other garbage.For the last five years, it is being systematically collected and scientifically disposed of on a regular basis, leaving very little of the potentially dangerous hospital refuge uncollected.
Till about a decade back, body parts, syringes, rejected surgical instruments, infected cotton and other clinical waste would often lie in the open in hospital premises. Collection was irregular and they were never disposed of in segregation from general waste. This was a blunder, doctors and environmentalists agree. It helped the spreading of diseases like hepatitis B and C and probably also contributed to many contracting the HIV virus.
Things started changing in 2000 with the state pollution control board beginning to implement the common bio-medical waste treatment and disposal facility (CBDF). It was made mandatory for every clinical set-up, which had even a single indoor bed or treated more than 1,000 patients to have their clinical waste disposed of in isolation from the rest of the garbage and through a prescribed method that ensured proper treatment of the trash. They could either tie up with a CBDF facility or do it on their own. Since the latter required health facilities to install expensive incinerators, which were again not permitted within the city limits as per pollution rules, joining hands with a CBDF facility turned out to be the most viable option.
It revolutionised bio-medical waste treatment in Kolkata and surrounding areas and paved the way for safe disposal.
Five treatment units were set up all over the state, including one in Howrah that catered to Kolkata along with South 24-Parganas and Howrah. The city, however, posed the biggest challenge due to the sheer volume of the bio-medical waste that its 1,700 health units generated. According to the last count, it stands at a staggering 6 tonnes per day. More than 5 tonnes is incinerable which means it comprises of hazardous clinical waste that has to be destroyed. The rest is disinfected and recycled.
"It has been a major step in waste disposal and the CBDF units have indeed helped rid Kolkata of the bio-medical hazard. Garbage disposal as whole would be useless without ensuring proper treatment of bio-medical waste," said Rana Sinha, vice-president (eastern region) of SembRamky, the firm that runs three units in the state including the Howrah facility. It started operating in 2003.
Handling Kolkata's bio-medical trash is a gigantic task and a huge responsibility, according to Sinha. The amount is increasing with greater awareness and stricter health norms that new hospitals follow. "More health units are coming up and we are having to accept their waste as well. Our facilities are being augmented to meet the additional load," added Sinha.
The disposal system is a simple one with hospitals and clinics having to maintain two bags and a container for the waste. While a yellow bag collects the potentially dangerous incinerable waste, the recyclable plastics and other material go into a blue one. Syringes, knives, ampules and other trash with sharp ends, which could result in injury and transmit diseases are to be loaded in a puncture-proof container. The CBDF units collects the waste from a common collection point within the hospital premises and transports them to their disposal facilities.
While the hazardous waste is destroyed through the incinerator after being disinfected, the recyclable parts are put into an autoclave machine and reduced to shreds. These are sold off to authorized recycling units.
A lot, however, remains to be done. CBDF units admit that a substantial portion of the bio-medical waste still doesn't make it to the disposal facilities. This is ascribed partly to hospitals, which often fail to ensure proper and timely collection. "Government hospitals are still very unorganized. Not all private facilities are very professional about it either. But things should improve," said a health official.
"It has also been noticed that those who are engaged in disposing the waste do not have proper knowledge as to how it should be properly done," pointed out environment department law officer Biswajit Mukherjee. "Proper management of bio-medical waste involves segregation, storage, transport and treatment. Medical staff should have all these skills," he added.
WBPCB officials said bio-medical waste such as disposable syringes, saline and fluid bottles that are thrown out by some healthcare units are picked up by ragpickers and get recycled without being properly disinfected. "This is very dangerous as diseases like AIDS could spread through these," said a PCB official.