Hospital found operating without Air, Water consents
TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: Twenty years since its inception, the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim, has been functioning without basic pollution approvals, Goa State Pollution Control Board officials said Friday.
Pollution Board officials during their recent inspection of the GMC complex found that the facility was operating without consent to operate as per the Water (prevention and control of pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (prevention and control of pollution) Act, 1981. Board officials found out that the GMC does not have any authorization under the Bio-Medical Waste and Hazardous Waste Rules, though it had installed equipment such as high-tech sewerage treatment plant (STP), incinerator and hydro-auto clave to treat the garbage generated in the complex.
The inspection was carried out on Wednesday after the panchayat members and MLAs, visited the site and complained about the way sewage and garbage was treated by the GMC.
It may be recalled that last June, the GMC was issued a show cause notice by the Pollution Control Board for breaching provisions of Bio-Medical Waste Rules, 1998 and Environment (protection) Act, 1986 after complaints from locals. However, locals complain that there has been no follow up and hospital officials are insensitive to their problems and as there is no accountability, no punitive action was taken inspite of all the complaints regarding garbage burning and water discharge.
Board officials revealed that as GMC has not obtained the requisite permissions and no inspections were carried out at the complex. “We were surprised to see that the hospital is running without consent from the Board since the time it started its operation at Bambolim. These are serious violations. This also restricted the Board from installing any form of system to monitor the pollution level in the area,” the official said.
When contacted, GSPCB Chairman Jose Manuel Noronha, refused to disclose any details of the inspection but promised that, “next week a series of stringent directions would be issued to GMC”.
Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar told media that he was unaware of the issue. “I don’t know… but the fact is Pollution Board was not in existence when GMC was shifted to Bambolim…,” he said.
Swapnil Naik, director, administration, GMC also expressed ignorance on the issue. “I am not aware about this,” he told media.
Sources said that during the inspection, Board inspectors observed that GMC was raising a health hazard in the area and causing severe environmental pollution by burning bio-medical wastes in an abandoned quarry. Hospital officials had admitted earlier that the quarry was almost full, so waste was being burnt outside, but had denied that this was their waste, alleging that kiosks around the complex were generating this waste. However, they claimed their STP and hydro-auto clave are functional.
Sources differed on this. “The Inceptor (incinerator), where the waste is been treated is non-functional for many years and hence they are burning the waste in the open causing health problem and pollution,” an official said.
