Garbage heaps are being dumped in open spaces outside highly sensitive areas of the Burn centre and Federal Government Junior Model School PIMS, due to the incompetent administration of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
These dumps poses a serious threat for the health of the citizens. The PIMS administration with more than 600 beds has been unable to dispose of the infective hospital waste, which should be incinerated properly.
The administration depends on a private firm for collection and disposal of dangerous medical waste, which averages more than two thousand kilograms per day.
Sources said that the incinerator plant at PIMS is not functioning and the above stated hospital outsource their waste but how and where it goes , as there is no appraisal system to keep check in place. “Waste generation increases as the number of surgeries increase, however PIMS generate much more waste that what they claim” one of the working physician told INP.
According to the health experts, all persons exposed to hazardous hospital waste are potentially at risk. This includes all those who either handle the waste at any stage or are exposed to it as consequences of careless management.
Studies in Pakistan show that a large hospital generates almost 2 kg of waste per bed per day. Of this, 0.5 kg can be categorized as biomedical risk waste. According to the law every hospital is responsible for the proper waste management until final disposal.
When the correspondent contacted PIMS administrations for the above mentioned complaint, Non-Medical Affairs Director Zahid Laalik refused to comment. Assistant Director Saddaqat told INP that PIMS administration has nothing to do with the waste disposal. “Capital development Administration (CDA) is solely responsible for waste disposal management service” he added.