No information on panel to monitor bio-medical waste

Ahmedabad: A key monitoring and coordinating committees for bio-medical waste in Ahmedabad has been non-functional. A recent reply to an RTI application on the subject shows that despite the bio-medical waste (BMW) management rules coming into existence in 2016 and their revision in 2018, the 12-member monitoring body, which must be formed under the district collector, has not been functioning.

In the RTI application filed with the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) office in Gandhinagar, the biomedical waste division responded to Bavla town resident Praful Mehta, stating their office has “no information on the activities undertaken by the collectorled district-level monitoring committee on BMW”.

Mehta said, “I had sought copies of the minutes of the meetings undertaken by the committee.” He added, “We have filed several complaints of illegal dumping of medical waste in Bavla, Dholka, Viram gam, Sanand and even Bagodara. Each time, we have approached the GPCB, which acts, but at the district and city level, the collector has to monitor and ensure coordination between various departments.”

The duties of the monitoring committee include ensuring implementation of rules at all healthcare facilities or occupiers, adequate allocation of funds to govt healthcare facilities for BMW management, pro curement and allocation of treatment equipment and making provisions for consumables for BMW in govt healthcare facilities.

Additionally, the committee is responsible for implementing recommendations of the advisory committee in all healthcare facilities. As per the govt order issued in July 2020, the advisory committee should include the collector, the district development officer, the regional officer of GPCB, the medical officer of AMC, the district president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the manager of the private firm managing BMW incineration facilities, Unicef or any other expert on public health, and the chief district health officer.

A senior GPCB official told TOI, “We have been directly acting on complaints filed by citizens. Recently, we penalised a medical institution in Gandhinagar for not following medical waste disposal rules.”

According to the GPCB official, the district commit tee is meant for coordinating activities of those involved in BMW management, while action can only be taken by the GPCB.