Nagpur: In view of the recurring cases of biomedical waste being mixed with general discard, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s solid waste management department has formed four-member teams at the zonal level to conduct unannounced inspections of hospitals, clinics and pathology laboratories to check whether garbage segregation is being done properly or not.
A few days ago, general waste mixed with biological waste collected from hospitals by the garbage collection company was dumped in Bhandewadi landfill area. After inspection, it came to fore that six city hospitals including GMCH, Seven Star, Getwell, Neuron among others were allegedly handing over biomedical waste mixed in general garbage to NMC’s door-to-door garbage collecting firm.
Taking notice of this, the NMC had issued show-cause notice to all hospitals and the waste collection company AG Enviro.
In its reply to the show-cause notice, AG Enviro claimed that garbage disposal rules are not being followed by hospitals. It is mandatory for hospitals to hand over the waste by segregating it in bags of specified colours as prescribed under rules. However, the company said, this was not happening. The company also said it was not possible to check every garbage bag owing to the enormous quantity of waste being generated.
Taking note of the practical difficulties, the zonal level teams have been formed which will carry out surprise inspections.
