Corporation steps up probe into biomedical waste issue

The hospital staff had reportedly denied that the waste originated from their premises

Coimbatore Corporation has stepped up the probe into the attempt to dump biomedical waste at the Vellalore dump yard on Sunday.

According to Coimbatore Corporation officials, their inspection of the bag containing bio medical waste revealed the presence of a used blood packet bearing the name of the blood bank, the bag number and the blood collection date.

The officials said they called up the blood bank and asked for details about the bag. The bank, in a written response, was reported to have named the hospital to which it supplied blood.

The hospital is situated in Thudiyalur on Mettupalayam Road.

Based on the written response, the officials also conducted enquiries with the hospital. The hospital staff had reportedly denied that the waste originated from their premises.

Meanwhile, the Corporation officials were also trying to ascertain if it could be the handiwork of those opposed to the presence of the dump yard in Vellalore.

The officials said that their enquiries had also revealed that those with vested interest could have brought a bag of biomedical waste and flung it into the lorry that transported non-biomedical waste from another hospital on Mettupalayam Road.

They also said that those persons could have dumped the waste into the vehicle when the driver of the lorry containing the waste stopped to have a cup of tea.

The officials said they had issued notice to the hospital from where the non-biomedical waste was suspected to have originated, the health supervisor of the area where the hospital was located, the lorry driver and the contractor who managed the solid waste management facility in Vellalore.

The lorry was on contract with the waste management contractor.

Hospital clarifies

Meanwhile, Ganga Hospital has clarified that it was in no way associated with the biomedical waste that was found in the lorry near Vellalore on Sunday, said S. Rajasekar, Director, Ganga Medical Centre and Hospitals Private Limited. He also said that there was no necessity for the hospital to dump the waste in the yard and that too to save a few hundred rupees.

He said hospital was sending its waste to a certified medical waste management agency for incineration.