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Bhubaneswar, April 1: The CAG report, presented by finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat in the Assembly Tuesday, has severely criticised the state health department and the Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) for lax enforcement of the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 1988.
“Compliance with the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules in the state is poor mainly in government health institutions and veterinary institutions,” the CAG report on general and social sector for the year ended March 2014 said.
Hospitals generating bio-medical waste are functioning without authorisation from SPCB and healthcare institutions are violating the rules regarding segregation, mixing, collection and treatment,” it said. “Availability of waste disposal equipment and facilities is poor, inspection is inadequate and monitoring lax,” the report said.
The CAG came down heavily on the State Level Task Force (SLTF) formed by the health and family welfare (H&FW) department in 2008. “SLTF neither formulated any plan of action for management of BMW nor submitted any quarterly progress report to the government, which undermines the objective of its formation,” it said.
“The database of hospitals that violated rules and were served notices by SPCB had not been prepared by SLTF,” it said.
“Against 3,260 healthcare institutions (1,749 government and 1,511 private) in the state, SPCB indentified and authorised only 1,488 clinical establishments for handling bio-medical waste. The remaining 1,772 clinical establishments remained beyond the regulatory mechanism because of the absence of initiative by SPCB to bring all such institutions under the rules,” the report said. “Of 3,511 veterinary institutions in the state, SPCB had neither identified any institution, nor taken any steps to bring these units under its administration as of October 2014,” said the CAG.
“Untreated water/liquid waste was discharged into municipal drain, thus polluting water,” the CAG report said.
