KARACHI, May 8: The City District Government of Karachi has begun gathering data about hospitals, clinics, health centres and laboratories operating in the city to streamline its hospital waste disposal system.

Talking to Dawn on Tuesday, Masood Alam, the EDO for Municipal Services, said that at present about 125 hospitals and medical centres were availing of the city government’s incineration facilities for safe collection and disposal of hospital waste, including the hazardous waste.

He said the city government wanted that more hospitals and health centres avail the incineration facility to become environment-friendly health facilitators. “At present we have no data about the health establishments and their daily generation of hospital and hazardous wastes,” he said, adding that the new exercise of preparing a union council-wise inventory of hospitals, clinics, healthcare centres, maternity homes and pathological laboratories would surely help the government approach the establishments concerned to observe safe medical practices.

Those who are registered with the city government for incineration services are required to pay an amount, fixed against the number of beds they offer to in-house patients, on a monthly basis.

However, there are reservations on the private hospital managements’ side about the yearly 10 per cent increase in the waste disposal fee.

According to an estimate, there are about 3,500 hospitals, health centres, laboratories, and clinics operating in the city, generating about 25 tons of hazardous waste daily, besides other waste. But only 10-15 per cent of the waste is disposed of scientifically. In addition to those who are registered with the city government incineration facility, there are about 8-10 private and public hospitals which have their own medical waste burning system. The remaining hazardous medical waste is either handled with municipal solid waste or recycled or reused for financial benefits, which is surely an environmental concern.

Under the Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997, hospital waste falls within the hazardous waste category, and institutions improperly handling it can be prosecuted.

However, EDO Masood is of the view that significant improvement can be made only when the government possesses a complete and reliable data about the hospitals and their waste generations.

“We have tasked our field workers and inspectors to collect data, and as soon as the statistics and locations of hospitals and health centres are known, we will first go for counselling and coordination on the waste disposal. And if needed at any stage, we will also take stringent measures against the violators,” he added.