PESHAWAR, July 16: The provincial health department has failed to make full use of incinerators installed in the city’s three hospitals for disposal of waste despite the government’s directive to this effect, officials said. The directive was issued in January after a meeting discussed the problem of disposal of hazardous waste generated by various public and private hospitals. The meeting, attended among others by officials of the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and chief executives of teaching hospitals, had decided to make full use of the three incinerators.

Sources said the director-general of health had been asked through a letter to ensure that a strategy be made for safe disposal of waste in all districts of the NWFP.

“However, no progress has been made so far and the incinerators remain under-utilized,” said a source.

As regards private health centres, the health department had been asked to offer incineration services of the three government hospitals to private institutions.

The decision had been taken in view of a survey conducted by the health department and EPA regarding hospital waste in Peshawar.

The survey identified seven hospitals and dispensaries in the vicinity of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) which produced 189kg of infectious and non-infectious waste per day whereas four private outlets operating near the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) generated 115kg of waste per day.

The sources said that the health department had been allowed to charge Rs30 per kilogram from private hospitals for incineration of their waste at the LRH, KTH and the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC). Had the directives been implemented the government would have earned a lot of revenue, the sources said.

“The additional chief secretary asked the health department to conduct a survey throughout the province regarding hospital waste and make arrangements for incineration in consultation with stakeholders,” an official said, quoting the letter which had also asked the health department and EPA to ensure that all private hospitals disposed of their waste through incineration.

However, the sources pointed out, no survey had been carried out yet.