The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) has issued notices to 10 departments to ensure that healthcare facilities under them obtain authorisation from the board for treatment and disposal of biomedical waste.
The board revealed this in its report filed before the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal in a case related to the poor implementation of Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016 in the State. The tribunal had asked the board to file a detailed report on action taken against violators.
The Central Pollution Control Board had earlier pointed out that several healthcare facilities in the public and private sectors were yet to obtain consent or authorisation from the State board. The inventorisation of healthcare facilities generating biomedical waste had also not been completed, it said.
The PCB has issued notices to the Directorate of Animal Husbandry; Directorate of Health Services; Director, Ayurveda Medical Education; Directorate of Medical Education; Indian System of Medicine; Directorate of Homoeopathy; Government Homeopathy Medical College; State Mission Director, National Health Mission; Directorate of Panchayats; and Director, Urban Local Body. The departments have to submit their action plan by November 30.
The report said that the total quantity of biomedical waste generated is 42,932 kg daily. The total biomedical waste treated and disposed through the Indian Medical Association Goes Eco-friendly (IMAGE) facility at Kanjikode in Palakkad is 36,853 kg per day while the corresponding figure of waste treated in captive treatment facilities is 3,557 kg daily. Fifty-two health-care facilities are equipped with captive treatment facilities.
The board informed the tribunal that the quantity of COVID-19 and non COVID-19 waste generated and disposed in the State on a daily basis is being entered on the mobile application developed by the Central Pollution Control Board. The healthcare institutions have been mandated to register on the app.
On the enhancement of additional biomedical waste treatment facilities, the board said the operation of the new facility by Kerala Enviro Infrastructure Limited (KEIL) has not yet commenced. The government had allocated three acres for the IMA’s second facility at Brahmapuram in Kochi, according to the report.
