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LAHORE, April 6: More than 70 hospitals and clinics in public and private sectors in Jhang, Multan and Faisalabad are not properly disposing of their waste.
They are violating the Hospital Waste Management Rules 2005 regarding waste collection, segregation, storage and transportation as well.
The Punjab Environment Protection Department officials told Dawn on Thursday that notices had been issued to the violators under section 16 of the Pakistan Environment Protection Act of 1997. They said the health facilities in question would be booked under the environment act and their case referred to the environment tribunal for subsequent action, if they did not follow the rules during the given period.
They said the hospitals and clinics’ waste was being disposed of unhygienically which was resulting in recycling and re-use of infectious medical supplies like syringes, blood and urine bags, and spread of diseases like hepatitis.
Under the rules, yellow-bagged waste should be disposed of by burning in an incinerator, burial in a landfill or by any other method approved by the federal or provincial agency concerned. All dangerous waste delivered to an incinerator is supposed to be burned within 24 hours.
Radioactive waste should either be disposed of in the landfill site or incinerated. The hospital staff be properly trained for clean-up of the contaminated areas.
None of these hospitals and clinics has a separate central storage facility for yellow-bagged waste which is a must under the rules. It (store) should be on hospital premises close to an incinerator’s site.
Under the rules, a hospital must be equipped with adequate cleaning equipment, protective clothing and waste bags.
The hospitals and clinics are:
JHANG: Ali Tariq Hospital, Wajahat Shaheed Civil Hospital, Faisal Maghiana Memorial Hospital, Night Maternity Home, Sial Clinic and Hospital, Fareed Clinic and Hospital, Sabri Eye Hospital, Iqbal Memorial Hospital, Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Fazal Umar Hospital, Shahabal Poly Clinic, Ehsan Clinic and Hospital, Haleema Hospital and Ali Yaseen Hospital.
In Multan, Talal Hospital, Talib Medical Centre and Maternity Home, Mehdi Hospital, Fatima Hospital Complex, Life Poly Clinic, Jinnah Medical Complex, Khalid bin Waleed Hospital, Rehman Medical Complex, Al-Khaliq Patients Care Hospital, Halima Hospital, New Al-Rahim Hospital, Husain Medical Centre, Sial Medical Centre, Shan Medical Centre, New Rehmat Rehman Hospital, Nadeem Medical Centre, and Maternity Home and Ali General Hospital are some of the facilities issued notices for improper waste disposal.
The others in the district are Al-Hafiz Clinic and Maternity Home, Khan Medical Centre and Maternity Home, Life Care Medical Centre and Maternity Home, National Hospital, Anum Hospital, Kehre Shah Clinic and Maternity Home, Fatima Medical Centre, Al-Huda Medical Centre, Fatima Medical Centre, Nishtar Medical College and Hospital, Jafri Hospital, Family Hospital, Efat Surgical Hospital and Maternity Home and Al-Kareem Medical Centre.
FAISALABAD: Shafi Jamal Trust Hospital, Ameen Medical Centre, General Hospital, Pakistan Clinical Laboratory and Blood Bank, Social Security Hospital, Mehweri Hospital, Dr Mazhar Rehman Clinic, Shahzad Surgery and Zeeshan Laboratory, Nawaz Medical Centre, Rasheed Clinic and Dr Azhar Chaudhry Clinic.
Mufad-i-Aama Trust Hospital, Chiniot Maternity Hospital, Saad Surgery Centre, Al-Razi Hospital, Mujahid Hospital, Bilal Hospital, Mubashir Medical Centre, Inmol Hospital, Millat Medical Centre, Hope Medical Centre, Hammad Hospital, Azeem Hospital, Dr Humaira Rasheed Hospital, Azeem Fatima Trust Hospital and Arshad Medical Centre.
