The issue of garbage disposal might be endemic to the entire capital city, with no solution in sight so far. But if the issue starts affecting its healthcare centres too, with garbage beginning to take over the premises of hospitals, where sanitation and hygiene are expected to be maintained without compromise, that is undoubtedly a sign of further danger ahead.
The Family Welfare department of the Women and Children’s Hospital at Thycaud could be a classic example of how the garbage imbroglio in the city is moving onto the next level. Though slightly away from the main building of the hospital, this is where several patients come every day. However, one side of the compound of the department, right in front of the building where ambulances and other vehicles are parked, has turned into a garbage dump where all the plastic waste is dumped.
Plastic covers, mostly those in which food is bought, food leftovers, mineral water bottles and so on, providing more than just a pile to rummage through for a dozen stray dogs, ready to attack anyone who ventures near the garbage pile, and scores of crows, dot a huge expanse near the compound wall here. The situation on Saturday prompted city-based environmental organization Tree Walk, which visited the premises during a nature walk, to click pictures and write to the District Collector and the Suchitwa Mission director, asking for remedial steps.
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Hospital superintendent Jose G. D’Cruz, however, insisted that garbage disposal was yet to become an issue for the hospital. Biomedical waste was taken care of by IMAGE, the Indian Medical Association’s waste disposal initiative, while food waste was handled by the hospital’s biogas plant. It was only the plastic waste that was left over and that was taken care of, mostly by burning, he said, admitting that burning the waste was an issue during rains. The situation, still, was not as serious as it was ‘being made out to be,’ he said.