Officials from KMC´s Environment Department caught hospital´s cleaners red handed while throwing hazardous waste in the Bagmati River. "We caught hospital employees red handed as they were throwing hazardous waste into the river," Rabinman Shrestha, an official at department, said.
The office has also cautioned the hospital not to repeat such mistake in the future. Shrestha said that the department has been monitoring waste management system of other hospitals as well. He said that the office has warned over half a dozen private hospitals to improve their waste management system immediately. The office has cautioned Medicare Nursing Home, Sahid Memorial Hospital, Teku Hospital and others. [break]
"We have asked them to manage their waste properly otherwise be ready to face legal action," said Shrestha. He said that the office is very serious about waste management practices of hospitals, especially of the private hospitals. Almost all the hospitals operating in KMC do not have proper mechanism to dispose waste produced by them and mix them with metropolis garbage coming out of households. Some hospitals segregate wastes in the wards but later throw it in the same container.
Though the hospitals have been adding number of beds and bringing in advance equipments, they have shown very little interest in the proper management of the wastes. Shrestha said that even some government run hospitals in the capital have been throwing hazardous garbage into metropolis´ container. Hospital waste pose great risk to public health and it is the duty of the hospitals to manage it safely.
Solid Waste Management Act, 2068 prohibits hospitals from mixing hospital wastes with household garbage. The KMC had decided not to collect hospital waste after the Prime Minister´s Office (PMO) ordered it to discontinue the practice.
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