Hospitals as source of health hazards. Ironic, say citizens

Every single day, 12-year-old Devi finds at least four syringes during her usual exercise of rummaging through the garbage. The dumping area is right beside the public urinals and there is no hospital close-by. "I think it is from a clinic two streets away. One syringe had even pricked me once. Fortunately, nothing bad happened," she says, pointing to a mark on her arm.

Devi might have narrowly escaped from being harmed by the hospital waste that finds its way to the garbage dump. But she might not be lucky every single time as hospitals and clinics across the city simply do not care enough.

A contract-based chemist in a private hospital says health facilities should follow segregation rules for biomedical waste. "Guidelines state that plastic waste should be dumped in blue bags, pathological waste in yellow bags, glass bottles in white bags and needles without syringes, surgical instruments in black cans. But I have never seen that happen," she says, preferring anonymity.

"This is not the first hospital. I had also worked at a hospital in Hubli. It was even worse. Though there are regulations, hardly anyone was aware of them," she adds.

It is not just the insiders who admit that many hospitals fail to comply with the bio-medical waste management regulations. Many residents staying in the vicinity of such health facilities are fed up too.

"Every day, we can see bandages and such other hospital waste material strewn across the streets. Hospitals choose to casually throw away the biomedical waste as if it is some degradable, natural kitchen waste," says Swathi N, a Jayanagar resident. Households, she adds, are more careful about disposing of used sanitary pads than hospitals.

Swathi's neighbour, Nasreen is sure that the hospitals are not doing enough to dispose of the waste safely. "One day as I was walking on Hosur Road, I actually saw proper hospital kind bandages in a dog's mouth. There was blood and god knows what not. How can one be sure that there are no deadly diseases spread through such things?" she wonders.

Nasreen is convinced that this is the pollution everyone need to fear. "This is not just a form of pollution but a chemical hazard. I may recover from my dust allergy due to smoke, but what will happen if I get into contact with hospital waste full of chemicals," she adds.

The homemakers continue, "I may not know the pollution control board guidelines. But common sense says that hospital waste is not your ordinary waste. So it cannot be ordinarily disposed of. An infection from the kitchen garbage may be cured. But I am not sure about infection from biomedical waste," says Swathi.

While incinerating the waste seems to be the most popular way of disposal, citizens remain sceptical. The absence of a strong body to monitor the hospitals is the biggest problem, according to most people. "These hospitals earn so much and am sure are run by powerful people. I am sure most of them do not even have necessary measures in place. But who will look at it?" asks Prashant Das, a writer.

He wonders how can such toxic waste burn and not give out harmful fumes. "I have heard about several hospitals not even having a proper Sewage Treatment Plant. I wish the KSPCB is stronger and I see actual results," he says.

Not all healthcare establishment is guilty. "Mine is a small clinic, but I make sure that the waste is segregated and disposed of through proper channels. As a doctor, it is my duty to save lives. And segregating the waste is the least I can do for that," says Dr Radhakrishnan.