May 11: Only one among the six nursing homes and more than two dozen private clinics in the district headquarters has an incinerator, which, in common parlance, means a waste treatment system.

Waking up to the dangers of untreated pharmaceutical waste, the Nagaon district administration has stepped in to help hospitals in the district dispose of biomedical waste safely and scientifically.

A source in the district administration said a sophisticated incinerator would be installed at Mohkhuli soon, for private nursing homes and the Nagaon Bhugeswari Phukanani Civil Hospital.

While half the expenditure for the Rs 25 lakh-project will be borne by the district administration, the rest will be collected from the nursing homes and private clinics.

Golap Dutta, the superintendent of the civil hospital, said: “We face a lot of problems as we do not have an incinerator to destroy biomedical waste. There is an allotted spot in the hospital compound where the daily waste is gathered”.

Deputy commissioner J. Balaji informed that a three-member management committee would be formed to monitor waste disposal after the incinerator is in place. “Each of the institutions might have to pay a nominal fee, which will go into maintenance,” he said.

He said the hospital would engage a local NGO to manage the hygiene needs of the hospital.

“It will be on a contractual basis and Rs 2 lakh from the hospital management fund will be sanctioned annually to the NGO for its service,” Balaji said.

Balaji also said the hospital morgue would be shifted to Mohkhuli.

“The old morgue is outdated. A new morgue will cost Rs 30 lakh and we will follow central guidelines while constructing it,” he said.

The civil hospital is one of the oldest government health institutions in the state. Over the past decade, the Nagaon health service department has spent crores of rupees under different heads to upgrade it.