Madurai Collector forms special team to streamline medical waste disposal

MADURAI: Madurai District Collector Nishant Krishna has constituted a special team comprising the Joint Director of Health Services and the District Environmental Engineer to streamline the disposal of biomedical waste in the district.

The Collector constituted the committee after a team of doctors recently brought to his attention that there is no proper mechanism for the disposal of biomedical waste in Madurai and the southern districts. As a result, private companies that collect biomedical waste have allegedly been dumping it in the Vaigai River and on roadsides.

The doctors also claimed that exposure to biomedical waste poses a serious threat to public health and the environment.

Pointing to the absence of a biomedical waste treatment facility in Madurai, the doctors said TN Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) officials had informed them that the biomedical waste generated in the district is being transported to Gummidipoondi, nearly 600 kilometres away, for the disposal.

Confirming that the biomedical waste collected in Madurai is being transported to Gummidipoondi by a private firm, a TNPCB source said this was necessary because there are no biomedical waste treatment facilities in Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram and Virudhunagar districts.

"The biomedical waste treatment unit that functioned in Virudhunagar was closed following protests by residents, who feared that it would cause environmental pollution and health hazards," the source said.

The source further said that although officials had tried to allay the public's fears, the residents were not convinced. "It was also an election period, so we could not do anything about it," the source added.

When the TNPCB attempted to rope in private players to establish biomedical waste treatment facilities in Theni and Sivaganga, residents protested against the move. "We are helpless," the source said.

The source, however, said that the only long-term solution to the problem is to establish at least one biomedical waste treatment facility for every two districts after winning the confidence of the local people. 

"As an immediate solution, the Collector should take steps to reopen the biomedical waste treatment unit in Virudhunagar," the source said, expressing hope that the special team would recommend a viable solution.