Peshawar: Infectious medical waste of public and private hospitals has put people’s lives at risk in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Substandard incinerators at KP hospitals have exposed the lives of millions of citizens to infectious diseases due to improper burning and transportation. Most of the substandard and low quality incinerators are non-functional or operating without any NOC from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) KP. The EPA has confirmed that public and private hospitals are violating the waste management rules. Infectious waste needs proper management and treatment prior to disposal. The EPA has visited 392 hospitals and notices were issued to all 392 hospitals for violation of Hospital Waste Management Rules 2005 and KP Environment Protection Agency Act 2014. So far 276 hospitals were prosecuted in environment protection tribunals, where 72 cases have been decided, while 204 cases are under process. A fine of 4.795 million has been imposed on the violation of waste management.
Minister Health KP Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra while accepting the reality said around 90 health facilities have various kinds of incinerators, but none is EPA-approved. By contrast, both MTIs and leading private hospitals have outsourced infectious waste management to good private sector firms. “This is an area that despite many improvements in the health system, we are not satisfied with disposal of waste. Currently, most of the incinerators are partially functional or non-functional, so infectious waste is not being disposed of as it should be according to world standards”, he said, adding that the time has now come in healthcare for shifting focus to the quality of healthcare provided by all the facilities, rather than continuing to think of success by simply increasing the number of healthcare facilities. “We will do this and do this quickly. “The Health Department has initiated a summary, through which the infectious waste management of all our hospitals will be outsourced and properly managed by reputable firms. I expect this to be approved quickly, because this is not a situation that is good enough”, Taimur maintained.
According to a letter available with this scribe, the director general EPA KP has ordered an inquiry on March 3, 2020 against different government hospitals over improper disposal of infectious waste on a complaint. He has directed North (Abbottabad), South (DI Khan), Malakand and Swabi directors to investigate the matter and report to proceed further. Director General EPA KP Muhammad Bashir Khan told this scribe that they are monitoring health facilities of KP frequently for proper waste management system but unfortunately the agency in public interest cannot seal hospitals. However, 392 notices were issued and cases are under trial.
“We have issued only one NOC for a commercial incinerator installed at Industrial Estate Peshawar by the ARAR Company. For individual hospitals, we check the compliance of emission standards. The Khyber Teaching Hospital and the Hayatabad Medical Complex issued compliance reports at the installation time, but they did not apply for NOC. Whenever, emission standards are violated, action is intimated against both government and private hospitals and we seal offices of these hospitals,” he added.
Prominent Gastroenterologist Dr Javed Iqbal Farooqi told this scribe that improper disposal of hospital waste may lead to hepatitis, diarrhoea, HIV and other respiratory diseases. Government and other private institutions must install modern incinerators to dispose of the medical infectious waste in all medical facilities. An official of the Health Department confirmed on condition of anonymity that medical waste becomes a biggest source of spreading deadly infectious diseases including hepatitis, diarrhoea, HIV, Aids and other respiratory diseases which are caused due to corrupt practices, mishandling and pilferage of hospital infectious waste.
“Government hospitals had installed locally-manufactured incinerators for the purpose of disposing of infectious waste, but arrangements were not adequate. The equipment was not as per standards and was just managed locally from low-profile manufacturers. Now, any of the incinerators is neither in condition to operate nor they are approved by the EPA as far as their burning capacity and stack emissions are concerned, which is causing a major threat to the environment”, the officer added.
Health Department sources revealed that many of the management staff created an opportunity to make money from the situation by getting into contract with local private firms and buying their infectious waste in the name of incineration. The hospital staff is amplifying this opportunity by not incinerating but selling further to a mafia which is involved in transmitting the diseases by re-using and manufacturing the daily household product.
The sources confirmed that hospital infectious waste is being stolen on a daily basis and this waste is being sold to scavengers. The waste is reused in industry for manufacturing of plastic toys, baby feeders and other plastic products including disposable spoons and cups, etc. Deadly infectious diseases including HIV, AIDs, hepatitis and other respiratory diseases are being caused due to inappropriate transportation of waste via open vehicles from one place to the other in open air.
EPA sources disclosed that there are severe environmental hazards because of the mishandling, pilferage and reuse of hospital infectious waste which are not limited to soil contamination and water and air pollution. These incinerators are actually burners which are not able to dispose of the infectious waste. The recommended temperature for disposing of the waste in incinerators is 1200-degree Celsius, whereas these incinerators cannot even reach 400 degree Celsius due to their poor condition and most of them remain non-operational.
