PIMS, Poly Clinic unable to dispose of waste

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The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and Federal Government Services Hospital (Poly Clinic) had been allocated Rs 48.984 million and Rs 26.697 million respectively during the last three years for renovation and up gradation work, but both the public sector hospitals has yet to repair or replace incinerators, which are inoperative for the last many years, resulting in problems for the hospital to properly dispose of the waste.
According to an official document available with Pakistan Today, an amount of Rs 17.437 million was allocated to PIMS in 2008-9 followed by Rs 17.574 million in 2009-10 and Rs 14.000 in 2010-11, an amount of Rs 9.256 million was reserved for Poly Clinic in 2008-9, Rs 8.970 million in 2009-10 and Rs 8.471 in 2010-11.
After the devolution of Ministry of Health, the hospitals are working under the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD), where the shortage of beds and medicines coupled with the ongoing strike of medical staff, laboratory attendants, clerical staff and pharmacy are adding the miseries of patients.
During a visit to both these hospitals, Pakistan Today found that seriously ill patients were waiting for treatment, as the staff told them about non-availability of beds. Patients at PIMS and Polyclinic said they continued to confront problems despite the fact that the hospitals had undergone considerable expansion over the last 25 years and new facilities were introduced to meet the growing needs.
According to an official, PIMS has 4 incinerators while the Poly Clinic is being run with a single incinerator, but they are out of order the last four to five years.
A PIMS official told this scribe that earlier the Ministry of Health and now the CADD were using delaying tactics to approve the repair or replacement of the incinerators.
“In the absence of proper arrangements for disposal of waste, PIMS dumps used articles in its stores and such things continue to pile up. There are reports about theft of used syringes, drips and blood bags from these stores for their sale in the market,” a senior official of PIMS requesting not to be named told Pakistan Today on Sunday. He said the PIMS had sent five to six proposals to the than Health Ministry for getting repaired or replaced the faulty incarcerators but the same were sent back for review for one reason or the other. The sources claimed that PIMS always prepared the proposals in view of the ministry’s guidelines, but it either returned these or kept on sleeping over them.
He said as the result, some groups including the hospital staff had become active and they started sale of untreated hospital waste to private parties, which were selling used syringes, drips and blood bags after repacking.
He said the used items were being sold at G-8 Markaz and G-7 slum.
He said the PIMS currently had 1,043 functional beds and each of them produced 10 kg waste daily.
Same is the case at the Poly Clinic, where untreated and improper disposal of waste is causing ailments and serious hazards to human health as the hospital incinerator cannot match international standards while its emergency and wards are working in a residential area of Sector G-6 adjacent to the main building.
Talking to this scribe, an official of Polyclinic hospital said the hospital had a working incinerator, but half of its waste was transported out of the hospital.
“The waste containing iron and glass cannot be burnt in the incinerator. It is usually dumped in suburbs or areas adjacent to the hospital that causes many a disease,” the official.
When contacted, PIMS Executive Director Dr Mehmood Jamal did not attend the call to give his version. A PIMS official said as a makeshift arrangement, the hospital waste was being sent to the Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi for treatment at an incinerator installed there. Poly Clinic spokesman Dr Sharif Astori said, “An international standard incinerator has a capacity of 40 to 50 kg, but we have an old manual incinerator and dump 10 kg waste daily in two shifts.”
Dr Astori said sanitary workers, scavengers – particularly children collecting garbage – and low-grade staff of FGSH were at a high risk of getting infected with viruses like hepatitis B, C and HIV because of their involvement in the treatment of hospital waste.

1 COMMENT

  1. i am mechanical engineer, and i am working at incinerator last four year as a engineer, if hospital agree ,i provide free service the capacity engorgement of incinerator plant and repairing this noble cause with regards

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