PESHAWAR, Sept 27: NWFP Health Minister Inayuatullah Khan has ordered feasibility study for the proposed Centralised Hospital Waste Management (CHWM) system to properly handle the issue of hospital waste.

The minister was briefed on the proposed system at the Health Secretariat here on Wednesday.

Health Secretary Abdus Samad Khan, Dr Mohammad Bashir, director general, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr Sabooh Bacha, medical superintendent of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Dr Murad Ali, Member Waste Management Committee, Dr Zahir Shah and Dr Laiqzada attended the meeting.

Amir Younas, general manager, Pollution Engineering Pakistan, and other experts of the firm told the meeting that the three teaching hospitals in the public sector, private hospital, clinics and laboratories were generating approximately 4,000-5,000 kg waste a day, while there was no technical arrangement to handle it.

An expert said: “Only three hospitals in the capital had got incinerators which are not only insufficient but are also not up to the National Environment Quality Standards.”

They elaborated that improper disposal of waste was not only putting citizens at risk to various diseases but also increasing potential risk of the reuse of syringes and other equipments.

Similarly, burning of hospital waste was increasing air pollution while its land disposal might result in ground water contamination.

They proposed establishment of a Central Health Waste Management system on build and operate basis within a radius of 10 km from major hospitals in Peshawar at an estimated cost of Rs235 million.

They told the meeting that the entire investment would be made by pollution engineering; however, the government would have to grant certain concessions for a period of

15 years.