03 November 2004	Wednesday	19 Ramazan 1425

PESHAWAR, Nov 2: The NWFP government has devised a mechanism for the safe disposal of infectious waste generated in small public sector hospitals in and around the city.

Officials said that the government recently realized that incinerators installed in Peshawar's three major government-run hospitals were underutilized.

It was found that incinerators installed at the Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital and Hayatabad Medical Complex were working much below their capacity.

Incinerators, installed during the past four to five years, were being used only to get rid of infectious waste produced in hospitals where they were installed.

Officials said that each of the three incinerators can handle between 50 kilogrammes and 150 kilogrammes of hospital waste in an hour.

A comparative statement prepared recently by a provincial department showed that 175 to 185 kilogramme of infectious waste was being disposed of every day in the Lady Reading Hospital.

About 80 to 100 kilogramme is being incinerated in the Hayatabad Medical complex.

Whereas, waste incinerated in the Khyber Teaching hospital appears to be far less than the waste burnt in the other two hospitals.

According to the statement, between 55kg and 60kg of waste was being burnt off every day in the Khyber Teaching Hospital incinerator.

"The fact that these incinerators are functioning below their capacity is not because of mismanagement or a flaw in the waste collection in the three hospitals," claimed the official.

They were incinerating the infectious waste generated in the hospitals, said the official.

The situation, sources said, made the officials concerned to realize the need for effectively coping with the environmental hazard caused by unsafe disposal of infectious waste produced in smaller public sector hospitals.

The statement revealed that the Lady Reading Hospital's incinerator was only operating for four to five hours a day while the one installed at the Hayatabad Medical Complex was functioning for two to three hours a day. The incinerator at the Khyber Teaching Hospital was functioning for only one hour every day.

He said that in an effort to take maximum advantage of the facilities, hazardous waste would have to be collected and transported from other public sector hospitals to the nearest hospitals with incinerators.

Officials of the environment department cited a recent survey and said: "The survey reveals that more than 100 kilogrammes of infectious waste is being produced every day by 10 smaller public sector health facilities."

A meeting to discuss the issue was scheduled to be held on Nov 12 with the province's additional chief secretary in the chair.