ISLAMABAD, July 5: Waste and by-products generated from health care activities of a number of private clinics and laboratories in the twin cities pose serious health hazards due to the absence of a proper waste disposal methodology, health experts told Dawn.

Health professionals said approximately 25 per cent of the total waste generated by health care activities is highly infectious, hazardous and toxic. The waste is disposed of as municipal waste without proper safeguards.

Sources said wastes and by-products covered a diverse range of materials. Infectious wastes, they said, included cultures and stocks of infectious agents, wastes from infected patients, wastes contaminated with blood and its derivatives, discarded diagnostic samples and contaminated materials like swabs, bandages and disposable medical devices.

They said instances exist where infectious and anatomic wastes, including body parts, had been recovered from garbage disposable sites.

Most of the private health care practitioners, especially in Rawalpindi’s Saidpur area, dispose of their syringes, disposable scalpels and blades like normal municipal waste.

Cases have been observed where chemicals, for example solvents and disinfectants, expired, unused, and contaminated pharmaceuticals are just thrown away to be picked up by the municipal workers.

Moreover, radioactive matter, such as glassware contaminated with radioactive diagnostic material or radio-therapeutic materials and wastes with high heavy metal content, such as broken mercury thermometers, are thrown away as normal garbage.

The major sources of health care waste are hospitals and other health-care establishments such as laboratories and research centres, mortuary and autopsy centres, blood banks and collection services and nursing homes.

The health care waste, sources said, was not separated into hazardous or non-hazardous waste. It was a reservoir of potentially harmful micro-organisms which could infect hospital patients, health-care workers and the general public.

Other potential infectious risks include the spread of sometimes resistant micro-organisms from health-care establishments into the environment.

Wastes and by-products can also cause poisoning and pollution, whether through the release of pharmaceutical products, in particular antibiotics and cytotoxic drugs, through the waste water or by toxic elements or compounds such as mercury.

Additional hazards occur from scavenging on waste disposal sites and manual sorting of the waste recuperated at the back- doors of health-care establishments. The waste handlers are at immediate risk of needle-stick injuries and other exposures to toxic or infectious materials.

According to health experts, occupational risks may be associated with the operation of certain disposal facilities. Inadequate incineration or incineration of unsuitable materials can result in the release of pollutants into the air.

The incineration of materials containing chlorine can generate dioxins and furans3, which are classified as possible human carcinogens and have been associated with a range of adverse effects.

Incineration of heavy metals or materials with high metal contents, in particular lead, mercury and cadmium, can lead to the spread of heavy metals in the environment.