LAHORE, June 27: Seventy hospitals in Punjab have been charged for failing to uphold standards on disposal of hazardous waste and now face fines of up to Rs1 million, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) official told Dawn on Friday.

The list of offenders charged in Lahore includes major health facilities such as Mayo, Services, Jinnah, General, Ganga Ram and Omar hospitals. The Nishter Hospital, Multan, and Faisalabad’s Allied Hospital are among the violators. The notification relates to their failure to follow procedures under the Hospital Waste Management Rules of 2005, according to EIA Deputy Director Nasimur Rehman.

They have now been charged under Section 16 of the Environment Act 1997. He said: “The stench which one comes across in these hospitals is because of their failure to comply with the waste regulations. It poses a serious health risk to patients”.

Each of the offending institutes had been issued with an Environment Protection Order which gave them a deadline of compliance within 10-15 days. The offenders, having failed to meet these deadlines, will now have to appear before a tribunal where they may be fined up to Rs1 million.

The Hospital Waste Manage-ment Rules of 2005 stipulates that all waste deemed to be a ‘risk’ must be collected, stored, segregated, transported and disposed of according to the procedure. Such waste must either be processed in an incinerator or an autoclave.