Seminar on safe disposal of biomedical waste

Vasant Nature Cure Hospital is conducting a series of 14 seminars, to be held Saturdays, on topics related to current environmental concerns. The seminar held on Saturday featured a lecture by environmental consultant Prakash Waghela on problems caused by biomedical waste.

Waghela, who has worked in the field for the past seven years, discussed in specific three problems related to biomedical waste.

Speaking about the first, he said that doctors register the disposal of their biomedical waste. But when they do not receive certificates of registration, they halt their
biomedical waste treatment so that they do not have to pay for the waste created.

The second that he pointed out was that in the case of disposal of biomedical waste by doctors registered, they did so for only 10 to 20 per cent of the total amount.

The third problem was that when waste is collected, the staff are not adequately aware about keeping infected and non-infected waste separate.

Speaking about the process of biomedical waste disposal, Waghela said that it was burnt in an incinerator at between 1,000 and 1,200 degree Celsius. The ash is then taken to a common landfill site.