ISLAMABAD: The management of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on Monday claimed that its medical waste disposal system was “fully functional” and that a mechanism had been developed for “separate disposal of infectious and non-infectious waste”.

The explanation came almost two weeks after Pims Executive Director Rana Imran Sikandar asked Joint Executive Director (JED) Non-Medical Waris Ali Raza to explain violations of procedures during the removal of hospital waste.

In a comment on violations regarding waste disposal, Dr Mubashir Mushtaq Daha, spokesperson for the Pims ED, said measures were adopted on an “emergency basis” to dispose of the hospital’s waste and make the system fully functional.

He said the executive director had also constituted a waste management committee to take immediate steps, including maintenance of the machine being used to incinerate the medical waste. He said that the committee had also prepared guidelines to dispose of medical waste and added the hospital had also established a mechanism to separately dispose of infectious and non-infectious waste.

Dr Mubashir said, “Now a well-organised system is in place to incinerate medical waste. In May alone, the hospital had disposed of 21,985 kilogrammes of medical waste.” He said that the new system would address all issues related to the hospital’s waste and claimed that the ED would “personally supervise” the matter.

It is worth mentioning that in the third week of May, the Pims ED had sought an explanation from the JED non-medical Waris Ali Raza. The explanation letter, dated May 19, stated that at least nine violations were observed in the waste management system despite notice taken by the prime minister.

It further stated that the special health secretary had visited the hospital and observed serious violations of Standard Operating Procedures.

On Feb 27, a vendor hired by Pims to incinerate medical waste on the hospital premises was found involved in the sale of infectious material in cahoots with hospital employees.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2023