Medical waste: Ulhasnagar hospital yet to learn lesson

Even after the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) had served a show-cause notice to the state-run Central Hospital in Ulhasnagar on July 13 for dumping bio-medical waste in the compound, the hospital has still not learned a lesson.

The Ulhasnagar Citizens' Forum on July 9 had first written to the MPCB about illegal dumping of the bio-medical waste by the hospital. The citizens' group again visited the hospital on July 27 to follow up on the complain and check the status.

According to the citizen forum members, the bio-medical waste can be seen being dumped openly in the hospital premises even today. The citizens' forum members had written a complaint mail on the follow-up visit in the hospital to the MPCB and the state government's health minister.

Speaking about the issue, Satyajit Burman, member of Ulhasnagar Citizens Forum, said, "Earlier we had filed a complaint with MPCB on July 9 after which the MPCB authority visited the hospital and served a notice to the hospital on July 13. On July 25, our members again went to the hospital to see if the hospital authority has started disposing of the bio-medical waste safely. Even now they dump it in the open inside the premises."

The bio-medical waste dumped illegally includes syringes, needles, saline bottles and other medical waste used in the hospital. The notice served by MPCB also mentions that the hospital has not renewed its bio-medical waste disposal license since 2014.