The state projects for biomedical waste disposal facilities at Chennai, Trichy, Tanjavur and Tirunalveli under various schemes are stuck with multiple reasons including government indecision and other political and technical reasons, even years after the proposals. While Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) delays the Chennai project due to the indecision on land acquisition, the other three projects are in fix due to technical reasons.
According to informed sources, the TNPCB is yet to proceed with acquiring land for the establishment of Chennai''s first biomedical waste disposal facility. The facility, which is to be set up by a private company, Healing Medicaids, on a built and operate basis, it has been hanging fire ever since the proposal.
The project was originally conceived to be set up at Navalaur on the Information Technology corridor identified by the Tamil Nadu government. The project was then proposed to set up at Mellakottiyur on the Vandalur-Kelambakkam highway stretch so as not to harm the interests of the information technology companies located at the previous site.
Sources in the TNPCB claim that though the land was identified long back, the state government was still to give the green signal to acquire the land. "We are still awaiting the green signal from the state government for acquiring the land. The moment it is done, the private party can go ahead with the establishment of the biomedical waste disposal facility," the sources added, claiming that the private party is still interested and has conveyed that it is ready to wait till the land acquisition is completed.
Government sources however refused to speak on the delay in acquiring the land. The state Health Ministry in the meanwhile has conveyed to the cabinet that the delay in acquiring the land to set up the said facility could pose problems for the hospitals and nursing homes in the metro but there has been no move on the part of the competent authority, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, to proceed with the acquisition of the land.
The delay has come in the background of two directives issued by the TNPCB directing hospitals and nursing homes in the state to pool in resources to have common incinerators for destruction of bio-medical wastes. The directives have been harsh and have sounded stringent actions against erring hospitals, which did not comply with the directives by having in -house incinerators.Most small hospitals and nursing homes in the state, so also Chennai, do not have in-house incinerators and have been making use of incinerators belonging to bigger hospitals for a fee.
Though the directives had been issued long back the TNPCB has still not taken any actions again hospitals, which have not complied with the directives. The TNPCB continues to warn such hospitals of stringent action but has not taken any so far.
Most hospitals and nursing homes in Chennai have been hesitating to pool in financial resources to set up common incinerators waiting for the proposed facility to come up. Not only would the facility have help in saving costs but also gave an opportunity to them to use a facility that could be termed a common incinerator. It would also have helped in doing away with the task of maintaining an incinerator which big and some medium hospital currently are burdened with.
At the same time, the work on the proposed biomedical waste disposal facility planned at Trichy, Thanjavur and Tirunelveli is still to begin as there are multiple factors hindering the projects to come up. According to Dr. P. M. Bhaskaran, president of Indian Medical Association - Trichy Chapter, which mooted the establishment of the facilities in the three places, certain legalities are still to be completed and this has delayed the work on theproposed facilities. "We are still working out the modalities and we expect the same to be over soon," Dr. Bhaskaran added.
The Indian Medical Association, Trichy Chapter, had agreed to establish a modern centre for disposal of bio-medical waste within three months. This decision had come consequent to the temporary closure of the bio-medical waste incinerator run by the School of Energy of the Bharathidasan University. It then also put forward a proposal to start similar facilities at Thanjavur and Tirunelveli contending that the decision was in line with the stand of the IMA chapter to mitigate problems faced by the many hospitals and nursing homes in the two southern districts of Tamil Nadu which did not have any common incinerator for biomedical waste disposal.
Dr. Bhaskaran maintained that while the Chapter mooted the projects many modalities still remained incomplete. The chapter is still to identify suitable locations in the three places for setting up the facilities."We are still in the process of identifying the suitable locations so as to facilitate setting up the facilities at the earliest. We are talking to the concerned authorities for land identification and acquisition. We expect the same to be expedited at the earliest," Dr. Bhaskaran added.
The IMA chapter in the meanwhile has requested the Trichy district collector to ensure temporary resumption of the incinerator at the Bharathidasan University so as to enable the hospitals and the nursing homes to dispose of their bio -medical wastes till such time the new incinerator is commissioned. He assured that the hospitals would henceforth send only tissues, placenta and similar degradable waste only for incineration after segregation of the non -biodegradable waste at the source point.
It can be recalled in this context, the TNPCB had ordered the closure of the incinerator installed at the University on the ground that it was located near a residential area and that the bio non-degradable waste were not segregated properly.