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Report

On

“Regional workshop on initiatives towards making health care toxics free”

Venue: Hotel Brahmaputra Ashok, Guwahati.

18th October 2011.

Organised by

TOXICS LINK

In Association With

WHO, India

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Table of Content

S No. Aspects Page No.

1 Summary Report 3-9

3 Financial Report 09

4 List of annexure 09

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Summary Report:

Mr. H. K. Karforma , Additional Director, Central Pollution Control Board, Shillong, gave the

welcome address and started his speech by saying that the final rules on Bio-medical Waste

Management (BMWM) came over first time on 1998 and then the rules were amended in 2000-

03.According to him, any kind of waste must go for segregation first and the ultimate solution

for BMWM must be the non burn technology.

He said that Central Pollution Control Board has already issued a notification recently that there

is also a provision for public to provide comment on BMWM for its further growth and

modification.

He gave stress on the ban on use of mercury in the hospitals because Mercury has a serious affect

on human. In the hospitals mainly the mothers and the children are affected.

At last he concluded by saying that this type of workshop will not only help for creating

awareness and concern among the public in BMWM but also for mercury phase out from the

healthcare sector.

Shri Satish Sinha, Associate Director, Toxics Link, said that lots of research in BMWM and

Mercury (Hg) phase out is exclusively going on. If the BMW is not managed properly it will

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pose serious problem for the mankind. Although the rules on BMWM came into being in 1998,

still in these 13 years of time it is not implemented properly.

He also said that incineration which was considered as a good means of controlling BMW, but

by putting all the waste in an incinerator, creates much more serious problems by releasing some

harmful gases along with the gaseous carcinogens.

Mr. Sinha also pointed some challenges in BMWM. The challenges are like the area of priority

in the healthcare sector, infrastructure requirement, monitoring and regulating.

Mr. Sinha however added that although resource is very important for the development of a

nation but if we continue to use the resource in the rate at present, then very little will be left for

the future, so recycling is must for the sustainability of the resources. He gave stress on the ban

on using of mercury (Hg) in the hospitals. A treaty on the use and making of mercury device will

come up in 2013.

At last he thanked the organizer for organizing such a workshop, which will surely help in

spreading awareness and knowledge among the general public.

Jury Sharma Bordoloi— Jury Sharma Bordoloi, Deputy Chairman GMDA, was very happy to

attend the workshop. She being from different field in profession the workshop on BMWM has

helped her best in obtaining a wide knowledge in BWM. She even said that GMDA must now

start to prioritize the issue of BMWM.

She also mentioned about the Hg pollution of the Minamata Bay, where Hg leaking out from a

factory polluted the water bodies of the nearby area and creating havoc by Hg toxicity. Good

traces of methyl mercury were reported to found in fishes, while cats in the area had various

malfunctioning of their body by eating those toxic fishes. She also showed concern that same

type of water pollution might be going on in the river Bramhaputra of Assam.

She also added that Guwahati city gives out about 500 metric tons of solid waste per year, but

management is able to compost only 50 metric tons waste annually.

At last she said that mutual collaboration of govt. initiatives and general public must always be

there for effective BMWM.

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Capt. Robin Bordoloi, Chairman GMDA, in his inaugural address focused on the rapid growth

of urbanization, use of toxic substances is also rising up. And this workshop will surely spread a

large amount of knowledge in public and will definitely pave a way in building up of a safe place

to live in. And in this matter a lots of support from public and govt. must also come up. Although

in larges places of India the use of plastic and related items are ban to a large extent, but in

Guwahati city no such work is coming up.

He also gave stress on the active participation of media in spreading knowledge and awareness in

the BMWM.

At the end, he thanked the Toxics Link, ENVIRON, PCBA and WHO for organizing such a

productive workshop. According to him this type of workshop will surely make a difference in

this field.

Mr. Ararjyoti Kashyap , President ENVIRON gave the vote of thanks to all the dignitaries

present as well as all the participants. He emphasized on the various work carried out by

ENVIRON in the field of Solid Waste Management particularly on plastic waste management.

He added that ENVIRON collects waste from the households mainly the plastics in return of

garlic and ginger. The collected plastic is used for making garlands, baskets, mats etc.

ENVIRON is also working in developing a catalyst which will convert plastic to diesel.

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Presentations

Miss M.M. Dutta , Administrator, Pratiksha Hospital gave a presentation on “In house

Biomedical Waste Management Of Pratiksha Hospital in Guwahati city”. She basically focused

on the biomedical waste facilities available in the hospital. The waste management in the

hospital is done in collaboration with “Fresh Air”, a facilitator organization for common bio-

medical waste management. She finally ended her speech putting stress on the management of

biomedical waste to be taken seriously and emphasized the responsible authority that deals in

bio-medical waste management to follow the norms of WHO and PCB.

Er. Chandan Bhaduri, Sr. Environment Engineer, Pollution Control Board, Assam gave a brief

presentation on“Status of Biomedical Waste Management in the region.” He discussed the

problems of segregation and also the disposal of biomedical waste.

Er. Partha Pratim Pathak, member of ENVIRON and Director of Fresh Air presented his

presentation on “Setting up and Operating the first Common Bio-medical Waste Treatment

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Facility of the NE Region”. Mr. Partha said that Fresh Air for the first time implemented the idea

of Bio-Medical Waste Management (BMWM) in Assam. He further told that earlier there was

enough of unused low land in Guwahati where the BMW could be easily dumped. He added,

some hospitals preferred incineration, which was also technically very crude. The first common

incineration of Guwahati for disposal of bio-medical waste (category 1, 3, and 6) was set up in

the year 2003. In addition, he also focused on the knowledge of Common Biomedical Waste

Treatment Facility (CBWTF), which is currently lacking. He concluded saying that Fresh Air is

also starting a new project on bio-medical waste with draft guidelines by January.

Dr. Ragini Kumari , Toxics Link, gave a presentation on the topic, “Implementating Waste

Management System in Hospital.” In her presentation, she showed the entire phase of importance

of managing biomedical waste. She even briefed about the various ways through which Toxics

Link is working to implement the biomedical waste management. She also pointed out that

according to EU legislation the use of mercury thermometer is forbidden and it is totally banned

in Sweden.

However, before ending the session Dr. Ragini presented another very informative presentation

on “Mercury Phase –out from the Healthcare sector.” In her presentation, she discussed the

various forms of mercury and the pathways of exposure. She told that UNEP first reported on

Mercury in 2000-2001. Moreover, she stressed on the issue of Mercury phase out in India. A

Few key studies carried out in India were also being presented.

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Mr. Satish Sinha, Toxics Link, enlightened the audience by his encouraging example of

Gangaram Hospital, which is making money from waste.

The session was concluded by the final outcome addressed by Mr. H.K. Karforma ,. According

to him, the only way out is through the minimization of the waste and the use of 100% unburned

technologies. Saline bottles should be sterilized in horizontal autoclave. The spillage or breakage

of equipments should be taken care of, good knowledge to control spill, strictly following the

guideline – are the ways of management. The policy also matters – how it could be phased out

by Ministry of Environment & Forest. Maximum awareness with responsibility is suggested.

Citizen’s charter responsibility should be implemented. Lastly, he said that people should know

about proper segregation of the waste

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Financial Report:

C State Level Workshop at Guwahati

1 secretarial assistance 2 750 1500

2 Meetings and training 139500

a. Venue hiring LS 12000

b. Training Material 50 750 37500

c. Refreshments (Tea/cofee) 50 300 15000

d Per diem for Out station participants 6 1500 9000

f Per diem for local experts 5 800 4000

g travel cost for outstation participants 5 12000 60000

h Vehicle hiring 1 2000 2000

3 Contingency 5000

Subtotal C 146,000

Total A+B+C 586,500

Total Round off 587000

List of annexure:

• Media Reports

• List of participants