Chhattisgarh govt hospitals flout bio-medical rules

Environment board serves notices to 18 hospitals including AIIMS

The Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) has served notice to 18 hospitals including prestigious state-owned for flouting rules while handling medical waste.

The prestigious hospitals include All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Raipur, Chhattisgarh’s biggest government hospital Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar memorial hospital in Raipur, and Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (CIIMS) Bilaspur.

The government district hospitals and private medical institutes had also come under the scanner.

“The board officials during inspections found that most hospitals violated the rules related to segregation, storage, transport, treatment and disposal of the hazardous waste prescribed by the Bio-medical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules of 1998,” the board spokesperson said. The hospitals have been served show-cause notices.

As per the rules, it is mandatory for all hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, dispensaries, veterinary institutions, blood banks, pathological laboratories and animal houses that generated bio-medical waste to take measures to ensure that it did not adversely effected the environment and human health.

It is also mandatory to install facilities like incinerator, autoclave and microwave system for burning hazardous wastes. The waste should be chemically treated at a common waste treatment facility as per the norms.

“The board had decided to crack down on the hospitals flouting the norms,” the spokesperson said, adding that the action against the 18 hospitals was part of it.