MARGAO: It is indeed an irony that the medical waste in Margao is disposed off in a very arbitrary manner. Medical practitioners are also guilty of endangering people’s lives by the callous manner in which they treat their waste as nobody really checks how the medical waste is disposed.
According to Dr Anju Kharangate at the Margao Urban Health Centre there are 39 dental clinics and 27 hospitals including three maternity or nursing homes in Margao besides the 155 medical practitioners.
“The medical waste from our centre is given to Hospicio for disposal,” she disclosed adding that the private practitioners are supposed to dispose the medical waste as per the laid down guidelines and pointed out that every medical practitioner is supposed to submit their plan for medical waste disposal to the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) without which they do not get a licence to practice.
Most of the private practitioners including the various private hospitals have given a very elaborate plan to the GSPCB on medical disposal. But unfortunately that is just a plan on paper that is not implemented. Some of the clinics very sheepishly admitted that they dump the medical waste with the municipal waste.
In fact Fomento Green’s Shalom Sardinha had a major grouse of the medical waste being transported to Sonsoddo in a camouflaged manner with the medical waste being stuffed between the regular municipal waste.
“My labourers have to then sort out the medical waste and we do not know what to do with it,” he said while demanding that a proper disposal system has to be put in place for medical waste.
Margao Municipal Council Chairperson Dr Babita Prabhudessai asserted that the municipal council is not supposed to deal with medical waste for which she said the World Health Organisation has laid down clear directives which need to be followed.
“I take my waste from my laboratory to my house and bury it in a deep pit as mandated by the WHO guidelines,” she said while admitting that the council does not check how the hospitals dispose their waste as that is not the municipality’s responsibility.
Hospicio Medical Superintendent Dr Ira Almeida said their hospital waste is disposed off in the prescribed manner and admitted that connecting to the sewerage network has helped the hospital to use the septic tanks that are no longer being used.
“We are using the septic tanks as the impervious pits for anatomical waste after autoclaving that waste,” said Dr Ira while adding that sharps like needles are first treated and then dumped in the encapsulated pit.
The other waste is disinfected and sterilized and then collected by a contractor from Ponda authorised by the government to collect medical waste but how he disposes off that waste is now known.
Hospicio had a plastic shredder that was used to shred the IV bottles and other plastic medical waste into pellets but that is now not working and hence all the waste is given to the contractor for disposal.
A senior member of the Goa Solid Waste Management Corporation admitted that the pollution control board does not check any of the clinics to whom they have given permissions after taking their plan for medical waste management.
Goa State Pollution Control Board Chairman Ganesh Shetgaonkar while pointing out that all private medical practitioners have to apply for “authorization” to them said once the application is received the board “must be” following up and checking but could not specifically mention how many have been inspected.
The fact remains that because nobody is monitoring the medical waste from the private practitioners there have been cases of medical waste found dumped even by the roadside as happened at Sao Jose de Areal last year or as body parts were found thrown near a water body at Verna.
