Manipal Hospitals fined Rs 1 lakh for improper disposal of medical waste!

Manipal Hospitals in Jayanagar 9th Block was fined by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for mixing medical waste with general garbage and handing it over to an open BBMP lorry. They were fined Rs 1 lakh for the offence by a vigilant BBMP marshall as it was against the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules (BMWMR), 2016. Segregating the medical waste and treating them with the right methods is a must to avoid the spread of infections and prevent the reuse of disposables and drugs as it may result in resistant viruses and bacteria.

It is almost four years since the law was passed and a premier hospital is found to be violating it. According to the BMWMR stipulations, segregation of biomedical waste is a must and should be colour-coded for different types of waste. Within 48 hours, the waste is to be treated either inhouse or sent to a common biomedical waste treatment facility (CBMWF) in a number of ways, depending on the waste, such as incineration, deep burial, autoclaving, shredding, chemical treatment, disposal in a landfill, and so on.

When the BBMP tweeted about the penalty, one person said that the government hospitals should be raided first. Another resident alleged that the Manipal Hospital’s Airport Road branch should be inspected too. Tweeted Pratik Agarwal: “You should figure if a similar action is required on Airport Road property of @ManipalHealth. There has been continuous burning of toxic waste every 2-3 days behind Manipal hospital. Its troubling residents in this area. Yesterday late evening, it was really bad. Please help.”

Responding to this raid, the residents of Electronic City tweeted to the authorities about how their area that does not come under the BBMP is dumping medical waste in their vicinity. Said Akash Bagla: “Can you also please put a check on medical waste being dumped next to SWM Chikkanagamangala plant? The waste is being dumped and burnt almost daily.” Echoed Ranjesh Hebbar: “Kindly advise how to solve the issue if such hazardous waste is taken and dumped in villages outside BBMP limits and to make it worse, burnt? This is happening all the time at EC phase 2 and we are unable to breath. Please help us!”

To all this controversy, Manipal Hospitals responded with this statement: “We have sought an audience with the responsible authorities in BBMP to explain our stand on this matter and produce details related to the same.”