Punjab: Crackdown on pathology laboratories from today

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Ali Raza
Punjab Environment Protection Department (EPD) will start a massive crackdown on the pathology laboratories across the city from Friday (today) that are not implementing the Hospital Waste Management Rules (HWMR), resulting in the spread of contagious diseases among people.

The decision was taken in a meeting held here on Thursday under the chairmanship of Secretary EPD Sajjad Saleem. Sources in the EPD said that the EPD secretary had passed strict orders to the Lahore District Officer (Environment) and EPD officials to start a massive campaign against the pathology laboratories from Friday (today). They said the campaign would be launched across the province once it was finished in the provincial capital.

The EPD sources claimed that a large number of big and small hospitals, medical centers, clinics, pathology laboratories and other health related businesses had not submitted the details of their ways of disposing of the clinical and medical waste as well as equipment used at their premises.

They said all hospitals, medical centers, clinics, pathology laboratories and other health related businesses were bound to get the membership of the collection system of the government for disposing of the hazardous hospital waste safely.

The sources said that eight teams were constituted to pay surprise visits at big and renowned pathology laboratories across the city to witness their working and disposal methods. In case any of them was not complying with the Hospital Waste Management Rules 2005, they would be issued a notice under the Environmental Laws. They added that a second reminder would also be served to them who did not comply with the directions of the department after which their case would be send to the Environmental Tribunals for legal action.

They said the provincial metropolis had already become a hub of hospital waste recycling industry, which posed a serious threat to the people as well as the workers involved in this industry. They claimed that the major reason behind spread of this trade was the failure in implementation of Hospital Waste Management Rules 2005.

Experts said re-use of hospital waste posed serious threat to the health of citizens, workers and other people affiliated with the recycling industry in Lahore. “If infectious waste is not destroyed properly, it would cause many fatal diseases like Hepatitis and AIDS,” doctors said adding the waste also caused skin, respiratory and eye diseases.

The sources revealed that private parties were also bringing tons of contagious and infectious hospital waste from across the province in the city for recycling purposes. they said the rackets involved in this illegal trade were bringing hospital waste pack in sacks through trucks.

Majority of the plastic recycling industry was situated along the Bund Road, Shahdara, North Lahore and other far flung localities. The waste leaked in the open market was supplied to majority of the plastic recycling industry in closed trucks and other vehicles reflecting the ‘strong ties’ of the hospital staffers and the mafia people.

They said the plastic industry was manufacturing various items from the recycled hospital waste, which included plastic furniture, plastic toys, plastic utensils, bottles and jars and etc. They said the phenomenon was a new revelation for the authorities as earlier it was considered that the hospital waste of local hospitals was leaked out and sold in the local markets to be used in the plastic industry.

EPD sources revealed majority of these factories were established in small houses and converted the hospital waste in small plastic pieces. Many factories were also involved in washing of the used hospital waste such as syringes, urine bags, glucose bottles and blood bags, the EPD sources claimed.

A senior official of the CDGL Environment department said the mafia was involved in sale and purchase of hazardous and infectious hospital waste and was earning more than Rs 15 million per day out of which the value of Lahore’s waste is more than Rs 5 million per day. He said only 10 to 15 per cent waste generated by the major city hospitals was incinerated while the rest went to the plastic recycle industry.

The EPD spokesman confirmed that the department was going to launch the campaign from Friday (today). He said all the hospitals, public or private, pathology labs and clinics are bound to handle and dispose of their waste as per the Hospital Waste Management Rules, 2005. He said the Punjab government had already taken up the issue seriously and the department had already directed all the 35 District Officers (Environment) to closely monitor the hospitals in their respective districts. He concluded the CDGL had also launched a crackdown on the illegal trade, arresting many culprits.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=183854