Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat
Recently when I visited SMHS Hospital Srinagar (New Block) during night time to see my ailing uncle, I was scared to come out of my car after parking it inside the hospital premises. I could see more than one dozen stray dog sassembled near a garbage dump. For me it was an utter shock to see a garbage dump inside the hospital premises. Instead of going to see my uncle in ward 24 of the hospital, my conscience took me near the dump site. I mustered courage to go near the trash dump ,the dogs meanwhile started running away here and there. As I found all the bio medical waste dumped near this trash collection point, I became more furious. I took some photos of the trash and within minutes I uploaded them on my facebook wall. In addition to it I circulated these pics on several Watsapp groups. I sent the pics to some officers in the Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell as well. There was quick action as CM’s Grievance Cell took up the matter with Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) & SMHS hospital authorities.
The very next day a large contingent of sanitation staff of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) led by Chief Sanitation Officer (CSO) started clearing the trash. I was not annoyed with SMC staff for not doing their job, but my anger was against the hospital authorities . I was furious to see Bio Medical waste being dumped with other food and non-bio degradable waste material that too inside a beautiful and newly constructed hospital complex.
I could see separate garbage bins in hospital wards ,wherein different types of waste is to be put inside , but who will guide the people ? I saw nobody telling attendants of the patients how to use the bins. Even though there was no person to guide attendants, I found 60 to 70 % waste was being dumped in a segregated manner. The unfortunate part was to see the hospital staff mixing all this segregated waste and then dumping it within the hospital premises. The place has been made a primary collection point by the SMHS staff. I believe they (sanitation staff) have not at all been trained how to segregate the Bio-Medical waste.
Problems to be addressed :
When I entered the hospital , I found the elevator (lift) not at all working , the patients as well as attendants have to use staircase or the ramp which causes lot of inconvenience to them. When I enquired as to why the lift was not working, I was told that the contractor had to be paid some dues by the hospital administration and he in-turn has shut down the elevator . After going around the washrooms ,I saw washroom in 2nd floor in a very filthy condition. Sanitation staff comes in morning to clean the washrooms , but there is nobody to clean them for all the day or during the evening time. There is no pathology laboratory working in new block of the hospital. For minor blood tests ,attendants take blood sample to old block of the hospital which causes further inconvenience to patients and their attendants. To clean big wards a handful of staff has been assigned this duty.
Conclusion :
I am sure not even a single capacity building programme has been held for the sanitation staff of SMHShospital or any other Government run hospital in our state. The staff seems to be unaware about the hazardous effects of bio-medical waste. I could see needles, injectable plastic vials , adult diapers , discarded surgical dressing items near the garbage collection point. A survey was conducted by state Pollution Control Board (PCB) almost 10 years back. It had revealed that none of the hospitals in valley particularly in Srinagar manages the bio-medical waste as per the prescribed rules. The condition seems to be same as on date. One of the leading dailies of Srinagar reported few years back that as many as 1000 health institutions in J&K are violating Bio Medical Waste Management Rules 2016. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had also reprimanded J&K Government and directed it to file a comprehensive report about the status of infrastructure and practices vis-à-vis bio-medical waste management in state. NGT also sought action against the erring hospitals, but nobody knows what action was taken by the Government ?There is lack of coordination between various Government organisations like Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) , Pollution Control Board (PCB) and hospital administration. It has been noticed that SMGS hospital Jammu ,SKIMS Srinagar and LD Hospital Srinagar also dispose off their bio medical waste in an un-scientific manner. The J&K Pollution Control Board (PCB) which has to enforce Solid Waste Management Rules 2016 which includes Bio Medical Waste Rules 2016 as well is not playing any serious role to check these criminal lapses. Due to this lack of coordination, the bio medical waste is mixed with normally generated solid waste which is lifted by Municipal staff of Srinagar / Jammu and dumped at Achan landfill site in Srinagar or Bhagwati Nagar landfill site in Jammu.
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