07 October 2004	Thursday	21 Shaban 1425

LAHORE, Oct 6: The City District Government has issued notices to 20 public and private hospitals and a clinic for not properly disposing of waste.

The notices have been issued under the Pakistan Environment Protection Act (PEPA) 1997 and the Punjab Local Government Ordinance (PLGO) 2001.

In the public sector, the notices have been served on the Mayo Hospital, the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, the Services Hospital, the Lahore General Hospital, the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, the Children Hospital, the Lady Aitchison Hospital and the Lady Wellingdon Hospital.

The private sector are Wapda, Ittefaq and Hameed Latif hospitals on Ferozepur Road, the Family Hospital, Mozang, the National Hospital Defence, the Akram Complex on Zafar Ali Road, the Farooq Hospital at Allama Iqbal Town, the Farhan Hospital in Islampura, the Haq Orthopaedic on Sanda Road and the Shalimar Hospital and the Khan Clinic on Allama Iqbal Road.

The notices have been issued following a CDG survey report. It reveals that these hospitals are involved in indiscriminate disposal of the waste. "The waste is being disposed of unhygienically either in the Solid Waste Management skips and sites allocated for them. It results in the recycle and re-use of infectious medical supplies like syringes, IV, blood and urine bags," it reveals.

Besides, it says animal and birds also consume a portion of the waste that results in vector diseases. District environment officer Tariq Zaman told Dawn on Wednesday the department had asked these hospitals to take immediate measures to segregate\ categorize the infectious and general waste.

Mr Zaman said the department had also asked the management of these hospitals to maintain documentary record of the waste produced on a daily basis. "Strict action will be taken against the hospitals on non-compliance," he claimed.

It is pertinent to mention that almost all public and private hospitals treat the clinical waste as common trash and dump it into local government's skips or throw it by the roadside or open plots.

A survey report says that over 85 tones of clinical waste is being produced daily. The rate of generation per bed per day is 1.8 kilogramme. Some 115 public and private hospitals in the city are reportedly producing about 3.5 tons infectious clinical waste every day.

Medical experts say that infectious waste -- pathological waste, tissues, blood and blood products, surgical dressing, disposable gloves, chemotherapy and pharmaceutical waste, cotton swabs, soiled dressing from the treatment area and waste from operation theatres -- being dumped without any proper arrangements is not only posing a threat to hospital employees but also to the surrounding environment.

The experts say every 10th person in the country is suffering from Hepatitis B and the incidence of Hepatitis C is also almost similar. Scavengers spend whole day in separating plastic bags of glucose, blood, urine, catheters, CVP lines, syringes, needles, razors, blades, glass slides, branulas, canulas and other sharp items.

They sell them to unscrupulous traders who re-cycle the material or get the used medical disposable reusable after packing them afresh. Drug addicts also pick up syringes and reuse them. Various hospitals reportedly auction the infectious clinical waste to private persons.