The Hyderabad-based Medicare Incin, a Ramky group company is setting up five new Bio- Medical Waste Management facilities one each at Amritsar, Kolkatta, Madurai, Mangalore and Salem with a total investment of Rs 10 crore, with each facility costing Rs 2 crore. The construction at all the sites is in progress and the facilities will be in operation by October, 2004, M Goutham Reddy, director, Medicare Incin told Pharmabiz.

It has already set up such facilities in eight cities in the country, which include Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Ghaziabad, Howrah, Hyderabad, Ludhiana and Mumbai. And aims at taking the number to 25 -30 in the future.

When asked about the criteria of choosing certain cities, he explained that population has been the key indicator. The company has found it viable to set up the facilities in all those cities, which have a capacity of 6000 beds. And other key factors have been the Government's initiatives and the size of the city.

Tracing the company's history, Reddy said, it has entered the sector (in 1997) much before the Bio-Medical Waste Management and Handling Rules 1998, came into existence. At the time of its inception, majority of the hospitals didn't give attention to managing bio- medical waste as there were no regulations. From April 2000, things moved in a full swing for the company. And, gradually hospitals started realizing the importance of managing waste, making things smoother.

He added, as of today, Medicare serves about 500 establishments just in Hyderabad. And about 13, 000 beds of in-patients are taken care on a daily basis. And at national level, it serves 7000 institutions covering 80,000 beds of in-patients every day. The company has made agreement with Andhra Pradesh Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (APNA) because of which it has received a good response at Hyderabad.

He said that the company's vehicles reach the hospitals and collect the waste, seggregate and then transport the waste to the company's facilities where it gets disposed either through incineration (high temperature combustion to destroy organic wastes) or through autoclave (sterilization, by killing organisms).

Besides this, the company also trains the hospital staff, including ward boys, nurses, administrators and doctors. The company has 6 trainers conducting training to hospital staff in each city it operates currently. The company has been able to take care of over 3 tonnes of medical waste in Hyderabad, which is nearly half of the total medical waste generated by the city, every day. Medicare earns on bed / day basis, Reddy added.

The challenge to the company has been to convince the hospitals to give attention to managing medical waste. So far, Medicare has found the states of Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, as proactive.

The Group which believes in environment friendly activities specializes mainly in Industrial Hazardous Waste Management, Municipal Waste Management and Bio-Medical Waste Management.