SC pulls up 3 private hospitals for not following barcode system, dumping Bio-Medical Waste in open areas

 New Delhi: Noting that the private hospitals were not following the barcode system, the Supreme Court has recently pulled up 3 private hospitals for violating the biomedical waste management rules and dumping bio-medical waste in open grounds.

The bench ordered three prominent hospitals to ensure that bio-medical waste is not dumped in the open area as well as properly segregated and disposed off. The court directed them to submit a concrete action plan in this regard.

Making its decision, the bench took note of the unsystematic and random disposing off the Biomedical Waste near open forest spaces by 3 hospitals- Chhatrapati Shivaji Subharti Hospital, Subhartipuram, Paras Hospital, Ghaziabad and Lyf Hospital, Ghaziabad. It noticed that the hospitals have not adopted the bar code system as per the EPCA Report. 

Hence, the Supreme Court of India issued the order expressing concern on the matter; especially considering the current COVID pandemic when biomedical waste can be contagious if not disposed of properly by the hospitals.

"The tracking of biomedical waste generated; collected; processed and recycled needs to be improved urgently by adopting the bar-code system, as specified in the [Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling)] 2016 Rules which has not yet been implemented completely."

"Let a meeting of the Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi Pollution Control Board and EPCA and the requisite stakeholders of the concerned Departments of the Central Government and Delhi Government and National Capital Region, including the representatives of the Corporations, be called for urgently within three days from today and steps be taken with respect to clearing bio-medical waste of various hospitals and that of Corona patients."