Hospital, doctor penalised for flouting waste management rules

A court here today sentenced a former Superintendent of S C B Medical College and Hospital to simple imprisonment for four months and slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on him for violating the provisions of Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules of 1998 while handling the wastes of the Hospital between 2002 and 2010.
Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDJM) B Goutam also held the Hospital guilty of not adhering to the rules despite repeated warnings from Odisha Pollution Control Board during the period and imposed a penalty of Rs five lakh on the Hospital.
The penalty amount would be deposited in the corpus fund of Pollution control Board, the court directed.

The Hospital was handling its biomedical waste under the direction and the guidance of State Pollution Control Board.
But in 2006, the Board detected certain anomalies in the management and handling of the waste and accordingly, the Hospital was advised to adhere to the terms and conditions laid down by the Board.
Despite repeated warnings from the Board, the Hospital failed to address the shortcomings and went ahead with biomedical waste management without proper permission.
The Board in 2010 filed a complaint case against the Hospital and the then Superintendent D N Moharana in the court of SDJM, Board's counsel P C Lenka said.