Pune: Over 1,000 doctors enrol to dispose bio-medical waste
The state health department has launched a special survey to check for irregularities in the registration of clinical establishments. Express The state health department has launched a special survey to check for irregularities in the registration of clinical establishments. Express
Over 1,000 medical practitioners sent in their applications to dispose bio-medical waste to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) in a month. This shows how reluctant doctors have been so far to register with the civic body to dispose such waste. The practitioners sent their applications mainly after the state health department launched a special survey, after the Sangli illegal abortion racket was busted, to check for irregularities in the registration of clinical establishments.
Now, to make it convenient for doctors to easily dispose bio-medical waste, a mobile app has been launched on a trial basis where a missed call can be sent by the doctor and Passco Environmental Solutions Pvt Ltd (which disposes bio-medical waste daily from Pune’s hospitals and dispensaries) facility will deploy two-wheelers to collect and transport it. Sunil Dandavate, one of the directors at Passco Environmental Solutions, said that the permissions have been taken from the Regional Transport Office and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board to deploy two 2-wheelers to collect and transport the bio-medical waste and take it to the Kailash incinerator facility.
Bio-medical waste amounting to 4,000 kg in PMC area and between 1,500-2,000 kg in PCMC area is generated daily and authorities admit that it has been a challenging task to get smaller clinics to get registered with the civic body to dispose the waste. On April 15, Pune Newsline had reported how 15 per cent clinical establishments had not followed the rules after the state had launched the survey to find if they had proper licences.
The state had launched this survey from March 15 across 35 districts, after Sangli illegal abortion racket was unearthed and health authorities found that a majority of the clinics had not been registered as they did not adhere to both fire safety norms and bio-medical waste disposal rules.
In Pune and PCMC, too, the health authorities undertook special drives. In a month, they had 454 clinical establishments enrolling for disposal of their bio- medical waste in the PMC area while a total of 428 were from PCMC area. Another 161 dispensaries which are on the fringes of Pune directly got registered with Passco Environmental Solutions which disposes bio-medical waste daily from Pune’s hospitals and dispensaries, Dandavate said.
Hospitals are charged Rs 5.77 per bed per day for the disposal of waste and the total annual collection from all the medical clinics and hospitals is around Rs 8-9 crore. This amount is given to PMC which, in turn, pays Passco for their services.
According to Pradeep Mulay, director of Passco Environmental Solutions, there has been a slow pace at which clinical establishments have registered with the facility to dispose their waste.
In the last 19 years, a total of 3,887 clinical establishments have been registered with the PMC for disposing their bio-medical waste while in PCMC area there are a total of 1,443 clinical establishments that have been registered, including pathlabs, diagnostic centres, blood banks, dental clinics and others.
Bio-medical waste comprises human and animal anatomical waste, treatment apparatus like needles, syringes and other materials used in healthcare facilities in the process of treatment and research. This waste is generated during diagnosis, treatment or immunisation in hospitals, nursing homes, pathological laboratories and blood banks.
According to Dr Prakash Marathe, Chief of Pune unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), doctors are being encouraged to enrol and register with the facility to dispose bio-medical waste. Dr Sanjay Patil, chairman of the Pune sub- chapter of the Hospital Board of India, pointed out that initially guidelines had been issued to encourage large hospitals to dispose bio-medical waste. Over the years, smaller clinics and dispensaries were directed to enroll. “At IMA, we are sensitizing the doctors to register with the PMC-run facility,” Patil said. Dr S T Pardeshi, acting medical chief of PMC, said there were over 7,000 clinics in Pune and efforts had been made to reach out to them.
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