Madurai private hospital slapped Rs 1 lakh fine for littering biomedical waste

Madurai: A private hospital in Munichalai in Madurai south zone has been fined Rs 1 Lakh for unscientific disposal of biomedical waste. The hospital disposed of the medical waste, which contained harmful toxic elements in dustbins kept for public use by the corporation. 

The medical waste included used syringes, expired medicines, glucose bottles, prescriptions, PPE kits, urine bags, and bandages. On Saturday morning, city health officer Vinoth Kumar and other officials and sanitary workers checked the dumper bins placed near the hospital and verified that medical waste had been disposed there, reports the Times of India. 

A health official claims that the hospital has been regularly throwing medical waste in unsafe bins for a month. Sanitation personnel later discovered it. A private hospital in ward 58 of Madurai Corporation received a 75,000 penalty for a similar offence two weeks ago. According to a senior official, taking cognizance of the unscientific disposal of medical waste, the civic authority wants to punish hospitals that are caught throwing medical waste unscientifically. 

The biomedical waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011 state biomedical wastes such as cotton, needles, body parts and other wastes generated from hospitals should be dumped in separate containers at the primary levels (in the patient wards). Then, it should be disposed of in the incinerator. If the medical waste is not segregated (different kinds of waste kept in different containers for disposal) and not disposed properly, it is likely to generate toxic chemicals, which can pollute the environment.  

A few days ago a similar incident took place when an Odisha-based private hospital was fined Rs 1 lakh along with a warning by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) for illegally dumping hazardous bio-medical waste. The BMC imposed a fine on a private hospital situated at Kharvela Nagar in Bhubaneswar for violation of sanitation norms.