Thaindian News

Chandigarh, July 10 (IANS) Notices have been issued to 54 hospitals across Punjab for causing pollution through improper disposal of bio-medical waste in the state, an official said Sunday.

Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) chairman K.S. Pannu said the hospitals — both private and government — were found violating various norms of Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 1998 during surprise visits conducted this month.

He said the board apprehended that some healthcare facilities were not complying with the conditions laid down under Bio-Medical Waste Rules and 22 teams were sent to conduct raids throughout the state.

“These teams were headed by senior environmental engineers. A total of 108 hospitals were raided. Fifty-four government and private hospitals were found violating the various provisions of the rules,” Pannu said.

The rules say all hospitals are required to segregate the bio-medical waste into different containers according to prescribed colour coding.

If the hospital does not have its own bio-medical waste treatment facility, the containers are to be transported to the common bio-medical waste treatment facilities at Mohali, Ludhiana, Pathankot or Amritsar.

“However, instead of treating or transporting the highly-infectious bio-medical waste to these common facilities, the hospitals were found indulging in unethical and unhygienic practices of dumping it locally,” Pannu said.

He said show cause notices have been issued to the defaulting hospitals under the Environmental Protection Act-1986 and those found guilty will face punitive action under law as the board is adopting a zero tolerance policy in this regard.