A total of 45 hospitals and clinics in Guwahati have so far implemented the bar code system for bio-medical waste which is meant to help in keeping a track of the quantity of biomedical waste being collected, treated and disposed.
Authorities informed that the implementation in other hospitals and clinics in the city is currently ongoing.
“The implementation of the bar code system is ongoing in full swing in different hospitals as per the Bio Waste Management Rules,” said DN Das, member secretary at Pollution Control Board of Assam (PCBA).
Bio-medical waste can be infectious since it consists of discarded drugs, syringes, sharp waste, microbiological and biotechnological waste, human anatomical waste and animal wastes among others and thus requires proper handling and disposal.
The union environment ministry had extended the deadline for implementation of the Bio Medical Waste Management Rules 2016 till March 27, 2019. According to union ministry of environment’s guidelines for bar code system for effective management of bio-medical waste, the bar code system would help in tracking of bio-medical waste from source of generation to intended destination for final treatment and disposal.
Further, it would also enable daily checks on the stakeholders involved in the bio-medical waste disposal process. With the introduction of the new bar code system, the identification of source of bio-medical waste generation becomes easy and authorities are able to monitor waste generation, collection, transportation, treatment and disposal online.
The PCBA is implementing the bar code system in Kamrup (Metro) district in collaboration with Fresh Air Waste Management Services Pvt. Ltd. The authorities began implementation of the new system since January this year. For this, Fresh Air Waste Management Services Pvt. Ltd. conducted awareness drives in different hospitals and clinics to sensitise them about the process.
It is to be mentioned that a few instances of bio-medical waste being dumped illegally came to fore during the last year. In one such instance, bio-medical waste was found dumped illegally at Hatisila in December 2018.
The incident came to light when the locals complained to the police about the disposed of syringes, needles among other waste materials which they found near their vicinity. Following this, the police reached the spot and even detained a man in connection with the case.
An official of Butterfly Software (which is involved in bar coding system in healthcare facilities) informed G Plus, “We are implementing the bar code system in various hospitals on a continuous basis and all the hospitals in Guwahati should be bar coded by the end of the year.” He added that every single bag generating out of a healthcare institute can be tracked and weighed as a result of the system.
As per the bio-medical waste rules 2016, every healthcare institution treating 1,000 or more patients in a month, has to obtain authorisation from the PCBA for generating, collecting, receiving, storing, treating, disposing or handling of bio-medical waste.
As per sources, there are several hospitals and clinics which are yet to obtain authorisation from the PCBA.
The absence of valid authorisation by the PCBA means that hospitals not following mandatory norms related to proper treatment of bio-medical waste could lead to such hazardous waste being mixed with the regular municipal waste, say health experts.
It could also result in the absence of records with the hospitals for the generation of day-to-day bio-medical waste.
According to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2016, only 17 per cent of the hospitals, clinics and nursing homes in the state have obtained authorisation from the PCBA.
Out of a total of 1,014 health care establishments in Assam, merely 178 have applied for authorisation from the PCBA which is a clear violation of the mandatory norms.
The guidelines on enforcement of barcode system for bio-medical waste state that for each bag scanned by the bar code scanner, all information including label information, date, time and weight of each bag will be automatically transferred to centrally located bar code based waste management system software. It further states that there should be no scope for manual intervention of the operator of the waste picker with respect to the data transfer.