Citizens have urged the concerned quarters to make proper arrangements for effective waste disposal mechanism in the federal capital’s hospitals.
According to the citizens, untreated and improper disposal of waste is causing ailments and serious hazards to human health as the hospitals have ineffective waste disposal system.
They claimed that incinerators at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and Federal Government Poly Clinic (FGPC) are not up to international standards.
An international standard incinerator has a capacity of 40 kilogrammes to 50 kilogrammes but old manual incinerators are being used in hospitals which only dump 10 kilogrammes waste daily in shifts, the citizens reportedly said.
“In the absence of proper arrangements for disposal of waste, PIMS dumps used articles in its stores where they continue to pile up. There are reports about theft of used syringes, drips and blood bags from these stores for resale in the market,” said citizen Haleem Mumtaz.
He added that the waste containing iron and glass cannot be burnt in the incinerator and is usually dumped in suburbs or areas adjacent to the hospitals causing many diseases.
Health experts said that sanitary workers, scavengers and particularly children collecting garbage and low-grade staff of hospitals are at high risk of getting infected with viruses like Hepatitis B, C and HIV because of their involvement in the treatment of hospital waste.
It is pertinent to mention here that the solid waste is collected and disposed through sanitation department of Capital Development Authority (CDA) while infected waste and sharps and hazardous waste and needles are collected separately and sent to the main storage place daily. This infectious waste is finally disposed by incineration.
When contacted, a PIMS official said that the hospital has made special arrangements to dispose hospital waste on daily basis.
He said that every ward and department of the hospital has been provided color-coded waste bins for segregation for solid waste, infected waste and sharps.
