KARACHI, May 1: The city government's latest drive to convince hospitals to adopt a proper and safe disposal system for their hazardous waste seems to have gone almost unheeded, official sources said.

It was learnt that city hospitals gave a cold response to the city government's solid waste management department's orders for use of its incineration plants at Mewa Shah.

The department had started its campaign for use of incineration plants in the wake of reports that 27 health care units, availing the charged plant facility, wanted to stop the service, while another 70 flatly refused to avail the service despite the fact that they had frequently been visited by the officials concerned or approached through correspondence, the sources said.

An official of the department said that notices were issued to erring hospitals in March, asking them to apprise the department of the practice followed by them for the scientific disposal of their hazardous waste.

We issued about 35 notices to various hospitals, under 4th schedule of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance-2001, which provided ground for punishment for not disposing of hazardous waste through environmentally safe methods, he said, adding that however, only four hospitals had contacted the department after receiving notices, which reflected the apathy on the part of hospitals.

The official said that now the department was preparing to take punitive action, including penalties and imprisonment, against those hospitals which had failed to submit their waste disposal plans within the stipulated period.