Ragpickers collect biomedical waste from PMCH on Wednesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Nov. 9: The authorities of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) appear least bothered about proper treatment of biomedical waste. Tonnes of trash continued to decompose behind Rajendra Surgical Ward three days after The Telegraph reported about it.

When The Telegraph revisited the spot today, the height of biomedical waste heap seemed to have increased. The hospital authorities claimed that it was just a day’s waste. But several patients and doctors differed.

PMCH deputy superintendent Dr R.K. Singh promised action against the agencies responsible for waste treatment if trash was actually lying unattended on the health hub campus. He said: “If biomedical waste is lying unattended on the campus, it is a matter of serious concern. We will look into it and take the agencies to task if they are at fault.”

Mr Singh, bio waste is indeed rotting in your backyard, exposing patients, their relatives, doctors and visitors to the hospital to health hazards.

According to the regulation, biomedical waste should be dumped in separate chambers of incinerator — an apparatus used for burning trash at high temperatures — after segregation. Then, the ashes should be disposed of.

In sharp contrast, anatomical waste keeps accumulating on the PMCH campus, mainly behind the Rajendra Surgical Ward. Worse still, bio waste is often dumped in front of wards.

The root of improper treatment of biomedical waste at the PMCH is erratic use of the incinerator at the health hub.

Experts believe that if not treated scientifically, biomedical waste turns infectious and poses a major health hazard. The casual approach towards treating bio waste can also trigger recycling of used needles and syringes, which should be ideally sterilised before auction.

A doctor on duty in the Hathua ward of PMCH said: “We see ragpickers collecting syringes from the dump. I fear they could be recycled. All this is happening because the incinerator at the institute is hardly used. The vendors responsible for cleaning the hospital dump the waste, including bandage, amputated body parts and other biomedical waste, in dustbins meant for common trash because the incinerator is erratically used.”

The PMCH deputy superintendent differed, though. He said: “The agencies responsible for garbage disposal at the hospital have been given clear instruction to collect waste from their respective wards and segregate general waste from biomedical waste. The biomedical waste is then treated in the incinerator.”

Singh added: “The agencies mostly do their work properly. If they do not, we take cognisance of the matter and take action accordingly.”

Environmentalists are of the view that biomedical waste does not only pollute the air. It has a long term bearing on the environment as a whole. Bio waste also gives rise to pathogen, causing diseases.