Jamshedpur, March 29: The blatant flouting of norms by local nursing homes in disposing of bio-medical wastes has led East Singhbhum district civil surgeon to send a letter today to the state health department, demanding the enforcement of a regulatory Nursing Home Act in the state immediately.

Civil surgeon Bibha Sharan in her written request stated that in absence of such an act, nursing homes disposed of bio-medical waste and bio-medical fluids according to their whims. As a result of the indiscriminate dumping of harmful bio-medical waste, the environment was becoming hazardous, she added.

Sharan said her predecessor Dipali Dey had carried out a probe a year ago into the errant ways of disposal followed by nursing homes, and had also written to the health department director-in-chief and health secretary, urging them to take action, but to no avail.

Dey, the former civil surgeon, had set up a five-member probe committee to find out how nursing homes flouted norms. The report, a copy of which is in possession of The Telegraph, clearly states the nursing home management buried or dumped placenta, amputated limbs and such medical waste in open fields instead of incinerating them.

As a face-saver, they sprinkle bleaching powder around the spot, observed the report. The probe covered 23 such medical hubs in Jamshedpur.

“We are worried about these kinds of wrongful practices followed by nursing homes. Bio-medical wastes, if not burnt in the incinerator, pose a health hazard to people,” Sharan said.

Jharkhand Human Rights Council had also raised the issue with the state health department. “Nursing homes don’t follow norms for disposing off bio-medical waste. If the state government does not implement an Act soon to regulate norms, we will step up our protest,” said outfit member Manoj Mishra.