Karachi, Dec 1: Adviser to the Chief Minister on Environment Noman Saigal has said that the absence of a hospital waste management system at any of the public and private health facilities in Karachi was degrading environment and spreading deadly diseases.

Despite numerous attempts by the government to convince hospital managements to adopt a viable waste disposal system, no progress had so far been noticed, he said. However, he attributed this failure to the non-availability of adequate funds and manpower with the federal government.

Addressing a press conference in his office on Thursday, he disclosed that in the next 15 days, two major hospitals in Karachi would be sealed off for not complying with officially prescribed guidelines pertaining to hospital waste management. He declined to name the hospitals.

The adviser said that cooperation from home and law departments had been sought with regard to the planned campaign against irresponsible hospitals. He told newsmen that about 27 hospitals had been issued warnings, and declared that in future, the hospitals without an integral waste management system would not be given permission to operate.

Referring to the meagre assistance from the federal authorities, he said: “We had demanded 200 inspectors from the federal government but only 10 have been provided, five each for Karachi and the rest of Sindh.”

He said a proposal to devolve and integrate environment department with the local government tier was under consideration. This, he added, would cover the scarcity of funds.

Private hospitals charging exorbitantly for treatment were also not abiding by official guidelines as mentioned in the Environment Protection Act-1997, he pointed out, adding that there was no proper system for disposal of chemical, genotoxic, infectious, pathological, pharmaceutical and radioactive waste.—PPI