Disposal of Bio-medical Waste- a Problem in India

India is facing a massive problem of bio-medical waste disposal. Several hospitals in India have a laid back approach towards biomedical waste management. They are directly disposing off or burning used needles, syringes, anatomical human waste, contaminated bandages, cotton gauzes and expired medicines.

Generally all this medical waste is collected in a bin and once this bin is filled then it is transferred to the dumping site. In most cases, this dumping is done on open grounds and burnt off. Despite having their own incinerators several hospitals were found dumping and burning such waste on open grounds.

According to the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000, hospitals should collect waste such as human body waste and waste from lab cultures in yellow plastic bags and wastes like discarded needles and syringes in red plastic bags. This segregation and proper disposal of this waste is essential to control environmental pollution because of bio-medical waste.

Source: Medindia