Report. Regional workshop on initiatives towards making health care toxics free. Venue: Hotel Brahmaputra Ashok, Guwahati.

Transcription

1 Report On Regional workshop on initiatives towards making health care toxics free Venue: Hotel Brahmaputra Ashok, Guwahati. 18 th October Organised by TOXICS LINK In Association With WHO, India 1

2 Table of Content S No. Aspects Page No. 1 Summary Report Financial Report 09 4 List of annexure 09 2

3 Summary Report: Mr. H. K. Karforma, Additional Director, Central Pollution Control Board, Shillong, gave the welcome address and started his speech by saying that the final rules on Bio-medical Waste Management (BMWM) came over first time on 1998 and then the rules were amended in According to him, any kind of waste must go for segregation first and the ultimate solution for BMWM must be the non burn technology. He said that Central Pollution Control Board has already issued a notification recently that there is also a provision for public to provide comment on BMWM for its further growth and modification. He gave stress on the ban on use of mercury in the hospitals because Mercury has a serious affect on human. In the hospitals mainly the mothers and the children are affected. At last he concluded by saying that this type of workshop will not only help for creating awareness and concern among the public in BMWM but also for mercury phase out from the healthcare sector. Shri Satish Sinha, Associate Director, Toxics Link, said that lots of research in BMWM and Mercury (Hg) phase out is exclusively going on. If the BMW is not managed properly it will 3

4 pose serious problem for the mankind. Although the rules on BMWM came into being in 1998, still in these 13 years of time it is not implemented properly. He also said that incineration which was considered as a good means of controlling BMW, but by putting all the waste in an incinerator, creates much more serious problems by releasing some harmful gases along with the gaseous carcinogens. Mr. Sinha also pointed some challenges in BMWM. The challenges are like the area of priority in the healthcare sector, infrastructure requirement, monitoring and regulating. Mr. Sinha however added that although resource is very important for the development of a nation but if we continue to use the resource in the rate at present, then very little will be left for the future, so recycling is must for the sustainability of the resources. He gave stress on the ban on using of mercury (Hg) in the hospitals. A treaty on the use and making of mercury device will come up in At last he thanked the organizer for organizing such a workshop, which will surely help in spreading awareness and knowledge among the general public. Jury Sharma Bordoloi Jury Sharma Bordoloi, Deputy Chairman GMDA, was very happy to attend the workshop. She being from different field in profession the workshop on BMWM has helped her best in obtaining a wide knowledge in BWM. She even said that GMDA must now start to prioritize the issue of BMWM. She also mentioned about the Hg pollution of the Minamata Bay, where Hg leaking out from a factory polluted the water bodies of the nearby area and creating havoc by Hg toxicity. Good traces of methyl mercury were reported to found in fishes, while cats in the area had various malfunctioning of their body by eating those toxic fishes. She also showed concern that same type of water pollution might be going on in the river Bramhaputra of Assam. She also added that Guwahati city gives out about 500 metric tons of solid waste per year, but management is able to compost only 50 metric tons waste annually. At last she said that mutual collaboration of govt. initiatives and general public must always be there for effective BMWM. 4

5 Capt. Robin Bordoloi, Chairman GMDA, in his inaugural address focused on the rapid growth of urbanization, use of toxic substances is also rising up. And this workshop will surely spread a large amount of knowledge in public and will definitely pave a way in building up of a safe place to live in. And in this matter a lots of support from public and govt. must also come up. Although in larges places of India the use of plastic and related items are ban to a large extent, but in Guwahati city no such work is coming up. He also gave stress on the active participation of media in spreading knowledge and awareness in the BMWM. At the end, he thanked the Toxics Link, ENVIRON, PCBA and WHO for organizing such a productive workshop. According to him this type of workshop will surely make a difference in this field. Mr. Ararjyoti Kashyap, President ENVIRON gave the vote of thanks to all the dignitaries present as well as all the participants. He emphasized on the various work carried out by ENVIRON in the field of Solid Waste Management particularly on plastic waste management. He added that ENVIRON collects waste from the households mainly the plastics in return of garlic and ginger. The collected plastic is used for making garlands, baskets, mats etc. ENVIRON is also working in developing a catalyst which will convert plastic to diesel. 5

6 Presentations Miss M.M. Dutta, Administrator, Pratiksha Hospital gave a presentation on In house Biomedical Waste Management Of Pratiksha Hospital in Guwahati city. She basically focused on the biomedical waste facilities available in the hospital. The waste management in the hospital is done in collaboration with Fresh Air, a facilitator organization for common biomedical waste management. She finally ended her speech putting stress on the management of biomedical waste to be taken seriously and emphasized the responsible authority that deals in bio-medical waste management to follow the norms of WHO and PCB. Er. Chandan Bhaduri, Sr. Environment Engineer, Pollution Control Board, Assam gave a brief presentation on Status of Biomedical Waste Management in the region. He discussed the problems of segregation and also the disposal of biomedical waste. Er. Partha Pratim Pathak, member of ENVIRON and Director of Fresh Air presented his presentation on Setting up and Operating the first Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment 6

7 Facility of the NE Region. Mr. Partha said that Fresh Air for the first time implemented the idea of Bio-Medical Waste Management (BMWM) in Assam. He further told that earlier there was enough of unused low land in Guwahati where the BMW could be easily dumped. He added, some hospitals preferred incineration, which was also technically very crude. The first common incineration of Guwahati for disposal of bio-medical waste (category 1, 3, and 6) was set up in the year In addition, he also focused on the knowledge of Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF), which is currently lacking. He concluded saying that Fresh Air is also starting a new project on bio-medical waste with draft guidelines by January. Dr. Ragini Kumari, Toxics Link, gave a presentation on the topic, Implementating Waste Management System in Hospital. In her presentation, she showed the entire phase of importance of managing biomedical waste. She even briefed about the various ways through which Toxics Link is working to implement the biomedical waste management. She also pointed out that according to EU legislation the use of mercury thermometer is forbidden and it is totally banned in Sweden. However, before ending the session Dr. Ragini presented another very informative presentation on Mercury Phase out from the Healthcare sector. In her presentation, she discussed the various forms of mercury and the pathways of exposure. She told that UNEP first reported on Mercury in Moreover, she stressed on the issue of Mercury phase out in India. A Few key studies carried out in India were also being presented. 7

8 Mr. Satish Sinha, Toxics Link, enlightened the audience by his encouraging example of Gangaram Hospital, which is making money from waste. The session was concluded by the final outcome addressed by Mr. H.K. Karforma,. According to him, the only way out is through the minimization of the waste and the use of 100% unburned technologies. Saline bottles should be sterilized in horizontal autoclave. The spillage or breakage of equipments should be taken care of, good knowledge to control spill, strictly following the guideline are the ways of management. The policy also matters how it could be phased out by Ministry of Environment & Forest. Maximum awareness with responsibility is suggested. Citizen s charter responsibility should be implemented. Lastly, he said that people should know about proper segregation of the waste 8

9 Financial Report: C State Level Workshop at Guwahati 1 secretarial assistance Meetings and training a. Venue hiring LS b. Training Material c. Refreshments (Tea/cofee) d Per diem for Out station participants f Per diem for local experts g travel cost for outstation participants h Vehicle hiring Contingency 5000 Subtotal C 146,000 Total A+B+C 586,500 Total Round off List of annexure: Media Reports List of participants 9