NONE of the 88 hospitals and 182 diagnostic centres operating in Chattogram doesn’t dispose clinical waste properly due to lack of incinerator facilities. The two government hospitals — Chattogram Medical College Hospital and Chattogram General Hospital — also do not have incinerator machines to burn the medical waste into ashes, a local daily recently reported. Usually, the clinical wastes have to collect separately to dispose with incinerator to avoid possible health hazard. If clinical waste is not disposed separately, it may pose risk of communicable diseases and infections to others, such as Pneumonia, diarrhoea, tetanus, hepatitis B and C and even HIV/AIDS. There is a large possibility of contamination in the surroundings, if the wastes are dumped in waterbody, marshland and other places without proper treatment.
What’s most dangerous is that one private organisation, Chattogram Seba Sangstha, which works to dispose clinical waste from some hospitals and diagnostic centres also haven’t incinerator machine. So, they dispose the waste in a landfill of the Chattogram City Corporation in Halishahar. The organisation uses pit-hole method to burn the wastes that causes air pollution. On the other hand, the rest hospitals and diagnostic centres which do not have contracts with Seba Sangstha dispose of medical waste together with general waste. It’s highly surprising how the authorities concerned could be so careless about the evident health hazard. Apart from CMCH, there are a dozen of big-budgeted multi-storied private hospitals and diagnostic centres in Chattogram where treatment is also highly expensive. They can easily afford incinerators, which is an essential part of their business. But they’re not interested in public health, rather they’re interested is making money cutting pocket of patients.
This type of unlawful and unethical practice can’t continue for a long time without support of Directorate General of Health Services and Department of Environment. This must end.
