Hospital waste major threat to health

Private hospitals and clinics in Federal capital daily generate hazardous hospital waste, which is not properly disposed of, but dumped in the city causing serious health problems.
Medical experts say that 20 to 25 percent of the total hospital waste is considered extremely hazardous to human health and is a potential source of fatal diseases such as hepatitis.
Dr Aftab Malik at Policlinic Hospital stressed the need for hospital staff to be fully trained regarding the proper disposal of hospital waste as any dereliction in this could spread various diseases.
He said often the hospital waste is thrown in the open which is quite dangerous and should be shunned. Dr said that if the hospital and clinic staff is experienced and trained, then such a trend could be avoided.
Aftab Malik said the public and private hospitals in the country produce approximately 0.8 million tonnes of waste daily. Around 400,000 million tonnes of waste is generated by public hospitals.
Public sector hospitals have a capacity of more than 100,000 patients and 1.5 kilogram of waste per patient is generated daily. Waste produced by private hospitals was equal in quantity to that of public sector hospitals.
A medical expert said the toxic waste generated by hospitals included used syringes, bandages, glucose bottles, blood bags. “If this waste is not properly disposed of, it can spread fatal diseases such as cancer, AIDS and hepatitis. Unfortunately, hospital waste management is almost non-existent in the country. Only a few medical institutions are implementing proper hospital waste management system while the rest of the hospitals throw their bio-medical waste in open dumps,” he added.
He said the hospital waste, thrown in open dumping sites, was picked up by scavengers for reselling. He added that in many hospitals waste, particularly syringes were not properly disposed of and were picked up again and sold by scavengers. Two methods including landfills and incineration are used to dispose of medical waste. In the landfill method, hospital waste is buried underground but according to medical experts not a single landfill site in the country is constructed on scientific lines.
The incinerators are used to burn the waste, but most of the incinerators installed at hospitals do not have proper filters and emit toxic gases such as dioxin. Medical experts recommend the hospital waste be segregated from domestic waste and stored in special containers. Proper landfills should be constructed and all incinerators working without filters and scrubbers should be immediately shut down.
SDC to organise course on supervisory skills on June 2: Skill Development Council, an attached department of the Ministry of Labour and Manpower, is organising a course on June 2 for the people new to supervisory positions or experienced ones wishing to learn modern techniques.
The objective of the one-day course is to facilitate supervisors or ‘would be’ supervisors to understand their role as leaders of their group, learn essential supervisory skills and realise the typical challenges and opportunities faced at the workplace.
In addition, the course would provide learning of the techniques for effective supervision and would assist delegates to create their own development plan for career progression.