Angul: Medical waste is not being disposed at the Angul District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) as per guidelines laid down by the Odisha Pollution Control Board, a report said.
A few days ago, ‘OrissaPOST’ carried a report on how Angul DHH employees were handling bio-waste without safety gear. Now, the irresponsible handling of medical waste has put DHH authorities squarely in the dock.
On any given day, you can see smoke bellowing from the back of the hospital building where medical waste is being openly burnt.
Sources said operation theatre and labour room wastes like used syringes, saline bottles, blood bags, human organs, cotton swabs and surgical cotton should be put carefully in a container. After that they must be neutralised as per specific procedures.
The staff engaged in transporting and disposing the waste must have appropriate safety gear to avoid endangering their lives.
But the Angul DHH provides a completely different picture. As if transporting the waste ignoring safety procedures were not enough, the DHH authorities burn them behind the hospital building openly.
The residents of the colonies near the DHH say they are forced to inhale the smoke released by the burning medical waste which includes plastic containers too.
“The fire keeps smouldering for days together. The hospital staff come every day and dump all kinds of waste there except body parts,” they complained.
The body parts are treated with bleaching powder before being dumped into the waste container.
The smoke coming out from the dump site is extremely hazardous. Constant exposure to it can cause serious problems, says OSPCB officer Anup Kumar Mallick.
He said that burning bio-medical waste in the open releases toxic chemicals and when they mix with air, the air becomes unfit for breathing. It will seriously affect patients and people visiting the hospital and staying nearby.
“Criminal procedures should be initiated against the DHH authorities for this atrocious act,” he said.
The residents of colonies near the hospital said the medical waste keeps burning for days together. They requested the district administration to intervene in the matter.
But Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Trilochan Pradhan pleaded ignorance, and said that he was not aware of medical waste being burnt at DHH.
He also said the contract of the organisation handling the medical waste had expired. A fresh tender has been floated, and soon a new organisation will be selected, he said.
PNN