Medical waste fraud exposed in Madurai

MADURAI: A team of doctors visited the Madurai collectorate on Monday, carrying a container filled with medical waste to expose the authorities' failure to dispose of the material, which poses a major threat to the lives, health, and environment of the general public.

Approximately 4.5 tonnes of medical waste are generated daily from both government and private hospitals in the Madurai district. 

“In a month, around 140 tonnes of medical waste are generated, but they are dumped illegally in the Vaigai river, along National Highway, and also in waste containers kept by the city corporation on the streets,” alleged Dr B Sarmesh Khan, a medical practitioner.

When Khan sought an explanation from the Pollution Control Board in Madurai through an RTI regarding the existing practices for disposing of medical waste, the authorities stated they had authorised a private firm to dispose of the waste, which is allegedly being sent to Gummidipoondi, nearly 600 kilometres away. “It is a complete lie,” he claimed.

Explaining this further, Dr Karthik Kannan said that the private firm charges Rs 10 per bed to collect medical waste from a hospital. For instance, if a hospital has 500 beds, they need to pay Rs 5,000 per day, which amounts to Rs 1.5 lakh a month. The private firm gives us a plastic bag with QR codes so that we can track it to the disposal site. But after they collect the bag, they remove the QR code and dump the waste into containers near our hospitals, he claimed.

He alleged that when Corporation officials discover this, they impose fines ranging between Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000 on the hospitals.

This is not a case unique to Madurai. The team claimed that most of the southern districts — including Theni, Dindigul, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, and Virudhunagar — do not have adequate, scientifically sound Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility setups to treat and dispose of medical waste.

Disposing of waste in public places causes serious threats to the public, but the authorities are least bothered about it, said the petitioner. He added that although they have made repeated representations to Pollution Control Board officials and the district administration over the last three months, they have not received a proper response.

Now, members of the AMMK have also joined us. If the district administration does not take proper action, the AMMK and other like-minded parties will organise a protest to grab the public's attention, said Sarmesh Khan.

When contacted, District Collector Nishant Krishna was unavailable for comment.