PESHAWAR, Dec 15: Out of about 9,291 tons of hospital waste generated in the NWFP every year, only 89 tons is incinerated. This was disclosed at a one-day workshop jointly organized by the Environmental Protection Agency of NWFP and the United Nations Development Programme here on Thursday.

The Health Department of NWFP had imported incinerators from China and installed them in the Lady Reading Hospital, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Hayatabad Medical Complex (Peshawar) and Ayub Medical Complex (Abbottabad) but at present none of them is functional.

Director NWFP Irrigation and Drainage Authority Noorul Hadi informed the participants that three major public sector hospitals in the province generated four tons of waste daily. The waste which contained chemicals and other hazardous material was potential source of dioxin, he added.

He said that incineration created new environmental problems without solving the original one. In early 1990s, he said, around 4,000 incinerators were operating in the United States, of which only 2,500 were left by the end of 2001. As these incinerators did not meet safety standards of the US Environmental Protection Agency they were shut down.

Chief Secretary Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, directed the EPA to prepare a plan of action to conduct environmental assessment of quake-hit areas.

He said that recommendations given in the proposed plan would be incorporated in rehabilitation and reconstruction strategy being evolved for the quake-ravaged areas of the province.

He emphasised the importance of promoting understanding of ecological issues at grassroots level and directed the EPA to form committees at district level and ensure participation of nazims and councillors in the programme.

He said that during the last 15 years several policies, plans, programmes and projects had been initiated for environmental protection and conservation in the areas of water and air pollution, land use, forest management and energy efficiency and water management but common man did not see tangible results.

Director General EPA Dr Hammad Uwais Agha said that the Stockholm Convention was a global treaty to protect human health and environment. He said policy makers should take measures to control and reduce release of persistent organic pollutants into the environment.

He said that hazardous chemicals in the environment disturbed the ecological system and caused loss of biodiversity, because sustainability of ecosystem depended largely on the buffering capacity provided by rich diversity of genes species and habitat.

He said that Pakistan was already enforcing chemical control laws, like Agriculture Pesticides Ordinance

1971 and the Agriculture Pesticides Rules 1973, which regulated production and use of pesticides in the country.

He acknowledged that the current institutional and technical capacity of relevant organisations in the country was limited and it required substantial support from relevant international organisations.