146 govt hosps operating sans PCB clearance

“There are 146 government hospitals in the State operating without consent from TNPCB as per the Water Act (1974) and Air Act (1981). The consent and authorisation certificate for private and government hospitals are under process. As it is an ongoing process, we cannot specify the time. But they will be approved as soon as possible,” said Selvan S, Additional Chief Environment Engineer, TNPCB.

“TNPCB has no right to shut down smaller clinics operating without our clearance as they have an option to outsource bio-medical waste disposal to a licensed agency. If any large healthcare facilities have not applied for the certificate, then they will be shut permanently,” he added.

In March 2019, the TNPCB, in a status report to the NGT, had submitted that 365 healthcare facilities in Tamil Nadu were operating without even applying for the board’s consent.

Overall, there are 4,307 healthcare facilities in the State and 3,475 of them had been issued authorisations.

Talking to DT Next, an official of the bio-medical waste management department at Government Stanley Medical Hospital said, "We do not have an authorisation certificate. So we ensure source segregation of bio-medical waste and then transport it to treatment plants through licensed contractors. We don’t throw it away like other healthcare facilities.”

According to the official, the total bio-medical waste generation in the country is 484 tonnes per day — from 1,68,869 health care facilities. Only 447 tonnes of it is being treated daily.