Surprise inspection- 91 hospitals in Punjab found violating biomedical waste management rules
KS Diwan/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
As many as 91 hospitals in Punjab were found violating bio-medical waste management rules during special inspection carried by Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) in atleast 170 hospital in the state
“Out of 170 hospitals, 78 hospitals were found complying to the provisions of the rules, while remaining 91 hospitals were found violating the norms,” said PPCB chairman Prof SS Marwaha. He further said that these inspections were carried out to check compliance status of the provisions of the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules.
In this surprise inspection maximum number of Hospitals were found violating the norms in Ludhiana district. In Ludhiana alone 25 hospitals, 7 each in Amritsar and Bathinda District, 6 each in Kapurthala and Mohali district, 5 each in Mansa and Sangrur District, 3 in Jalandhar district, 4 each in Ropar, Faridkot, Ferozpur, Hoshiarpur district, 2 each in Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Pathankot, Sri Muktsar Sahib and one each in Tarn Taran, Moga and SBS Nagar district, while one hospital found closed during visit.
Dr Hardas Singh orthopaedic hospital and super speciality centre, Amritsar, Nanda hospital, Verka in Amritsar, Amrit Hospital, Moga, Gandhi hospital private limited, Phagwara, Dhawan surgical centre, Ropar, KCM multi-speciality hospital, Pathankot, Kapoor nursing and maternity home, Pathankot, Amrit nursing home, Mansa, Immaculate mission hospital, Muktsar, Health max multispecialty hospital, Ludhiana, Pancham hospital private limited, Ludhiana, Global heart and super speciality hospital, Ludhiana, Shree Rama Charitable hospital, Ludhiana, Baba Budha ji Charitable hospital, Tarn Taran amongst other hospitals who were found doing violations.
Punjab Pollution Control Board officials disclosed that the inspections teams found that some of the hospitals were not having valid authorization under Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules from the board, not provided Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP), no proper record of bio-medical waste generation and disposal maintained, improper segregation, inappropriate final Storage room and not pre-treatment to liquid waste and an action against the violating hospitals will be taken under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, accordingly.
As per PPCB officials, around 8,400 healthcare facilities identified by the Board which are disposing their bio-medical waste @ 15-16 TPD to the five common bio-medical waste treatment facilities at Ludhiana, Amritsar , SAS Nagar, Muktsar and Pathankot having facilities to treat biomedical waste in a scientific way.
