Panaji : Over 350 clinics, hosps without pollution board nod may face closure

Panaji: Over 350 clinics and hospitals may face closure if they fail to apply for required permissions from the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) for disposal of biomedical waste.

The board has issued 350 showcause notices.

“We have issued over 350 showcause notices to individual clinics, small and big hospitals for not applying for authorisation and consent to operate under the water act and the air act for disposal of biomedical waste,” chairman of the board Ganesh Shetgaonkar said.

“If they do not apply for the authorisation and consent to operate then we will issue closure notices as per the law,” he said.

Most clinics and hospitals have also failed to file their returns before the board giving details about the biomedical waste generated by them, Shetgaonkar said, adding that the last date to file returns is June 30 every year.

The showcause notices have been issued under Section 5 of the Environment Protection Act.

Individual clinics are required to apply for authorisation, while hospitals have to apply for both authorisation and consent to operate, the GSPCB chairman said.

For Panaji and Vasco, the board has authorised a service provider to collect and dispose biomedical waste generated here at Goa Medical College.

Ther rest of the state’s hospitals and clinics dispose their biomedical waste in their own facilities, Shetgaonkar said.

The board on Monday held a meeting with doctors to explain the procedure to apply for the permissions online.

During the meeting, chairman biomedical waste disposal cell, IMA-Goa, Dr Shekhar Salkar asked GSPCB to reach an interim agreement for biomedical waste management via service providers for the rest of the state, too, like that done in Panaji and Vasco, as some healthcare facilities are unable to implement on site management due to various restraints.