Hazardous hospital waste: Burnt but not wholly

ISLAMABAD, Feb 23: With standard incinerators not available to them, the leading government hospitals in the federal capital find themselves in a dilemma how to dispose of their clinical waste "scientifically". Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), the Federal Government Services Hospital (Polyclinic) and the Capital Development Hospital have either no incinerators or ones working on obsolete technology. Pims alone generates about 1,100kg clinical waste every day, according to an official in the administration wing of the city`s biggest hospital. "And 10 per cent of it is infectious waste," he added for emphasis. All that hazardous waste is taken to a `safe` location away from the city`s residential areas, and burnt – but without following the modern scientific procedures. The situation is no different at Polyclinic where, according to a physician who spoke on condition of anonymity, around 300kg hospital waste was generated daily – seven per cent of it infectious solid waste. "The waste generated after surgical procedure like human organs, infected blood bottles, syringes and other such things are incinerated but the machine is outdated," the spokesman for Polyclinic, Dr Sharif Astori, told Dawn . He said a proper procedure was followed at the hospital to enforce the best preventive measures against hospital waste, both solid and liquid. "The incinerator was set up in the hospital a decade back," he added. Contrary to the spokesman`s claim, however, Director General Health Dr Asad Hafeez said the waste generated at both Pims and Polyclinic was incinerated at a location outside the city. "I don`t know the exact location of the incinerator but I know that the waste of Pims and Polyclinic is incinerated somewhere outside the city," said Dr Hafeez. When he was reminded that Pims had an incinerator which worked efficiently a few years back but now it remained closed; he said: "The cost of managing the incinerator is high which may be a factor leading to its closure." He added that the best international practice was followed by the federal government and there was already a policy for safe disposal of hospital waste."We are following the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard," he claimed. The director general health suggested that "private hospitals without incineration mechanism should dig a pit and bury their solid waste in it."