Medical waste including PPE kits, syringes, gloves, face masks and used medicines found scattered in and around Government hospitals is irritating the people in general and patients and doctors in particular.
Health always a priority sector is not only about the patient care facilities and availability of the infrastructural facilities at Government hospitals but it is also about disposal of biomedical waste in the surroundings of hospitals. Unfortunately the disposal of biomedical waste in the surroundings of Government hospitals is not getting the attention it deserves both in urban and rural parts of Jammu & Kashmir. Henceforth sanitation around the hospitals demands the attention it deserves not only in the top referral hospitals in Srinagar and Jammu the twin capital cities and major towns of both the Kashmir and Jammu division but also in rural hospitals across Jammu & Kashmir. While heaps of biomedical waste are found in the dumper placers outside the premises of several hospitals, the unprecedented delay caused in it’s disposal is causing huge conveniences to the visitors at the hospitals. Lifting garbage from the residential colonies and clearing lanes and drains is a welcome move but keeping heaps of biomedical waste scattered in and around dumper placers outside the hospitals shows that even the hospital authorities in twin capital cities and major towns of Jammu & Kashmir have no civic sense. Medical waste including PPE kits, syringes, gloves, face masks and used medicines found scattered in and around Government hospitals is irritating the people in general and patients and doctors in particular. It is common a public perception in Kashmir that people prefer private hospitals over government hospitals mostly because of the sanitation issues. Though people protest against unprecedented delay caused in lifting huge heaps of medical waste from the surroundings of the hospitals but the hospital authorities unfortunately turn a deaf ear to the growing public outcry on this count. As demands for regular lifting of the medical waste from dumper placers kept in and outside hospitals in twin capital cities and major towns of Jammu & Kashmir are growing day after day and month after month, the response to the demands for a prompt medical waste disposal at Government hospitals is overdue.
“The medical waste disposal in view of recent media reports about unprecedented rise in patient footfall at Government hospitals demands and deserves immediate attention of the managements of the Government hospitals across Jammu & Kashmir. To reduce the risks of human infections and emergence of epidemics in peak summer month, the disposal of medical waste is an unavoidable compulsion for both the managements of the hospitals and as well as the authorities of municipal bodies in cities and towns across Jammu & Kashmir.”
Obviously the solution to the crisis of medical waste accumulation in and around hospitals lies in creating new biomedical waste treatment facilities in both the twin capital cities-Srinagar and Jammu and major towns of both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division. The medical waste disposal in view of recent media reports about unprecedented rise in patient footfall at Government hospitals demands and deserves immediate attention of the managements of the Government hospitals across Jammu & Kashmir. To reduce the risks of human infections and emergence of epidemics in peak summer month, the disposal of medical waste is an unavoidable compulsion for both the managements of the hospitals and as well as the authorities of municipal bodies in cities and towns across Jammu & Kashmir.
