Union Ministry of Environment has approved a proposal put forward by Qualified Private Medical Practitioners Association (QPMPA) for the bio-medical waste management of the hospitals in Kerala.

The ministry officials accepted the association's request for a study to be conducted on the problem of bio-medical waste and suggest a comprehensive, economically and technically viable solution. A team from the Union Ministry of Environment will visit the state in two months, according to the spokesperson of QPMPA. This decision was taken at a meeting held by the Ministry with the representatives of QPMPA in New Delhi last week.

QPMPA has asked the Department of Environmental Studies of Cochin University of Science and Technology to conduct the study and prescribe the most suitable method adaptable to local conditions.

"The conservative methods are costly and most of the hospitals here are not technically equipped to maintain these complicated systems of waste management" says Dr.A K Sabhapathy, state president of the association.

No guidelines have been issued by the Pollution Control Board, so far as to the manner in which the waste has to be managed in accordance with the Environment Protection Act of 1998 and its amendments in 2000.

The conventional waste management system is expensive and it is not affordable for both government and private hospitals. Some hospitals built incinerators spending Rs 12 to 14 lakh for a single unit. But these units are facing severe problems in terms of the high running cost, shortage of land and the opposition from the public.

The Indian Medical Association had started a plant in Thodupuzha, which was closed down after the local residents' agitation. Moreover the incinerators are not much effective in the state with high rainfall and humidity according to experts.