Karachi is a documentary, directed, produced and written by Aziz Sanghur. The documentary shows that hospital waste is dangerous enough to start various epidemics in the city and it should be kept away from residential areas. The PMA has already shown detailed reservations with suggestions on how to dispose the hospital waste. There should be coloured plastic bags for different types of waste. A discarded needle used on a hepatitis patient is an open threat to the lives of people, said Dr. Samina Hashmi, General Secretary, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA). She said that the waste from hospitals is toxic and lethal because it carries various germs and diseases which need to be properly and scientifically collected and disposed off. Negligence in this regard is criminal and stern action should be taken against violators. The government should introduce a law for the regulation of hazardous hospital waste, she suggested. According to unofficial estimates, the 3,500 hospitals, health centres, laboratories, and clinics operating in the city generate about 25 tonnes of hazardous waste daily, but only 125 to 140 hospitals and medical centres are availing the city governments incineration facility or have their own medical waste burning system. As such, only 20 per cent of medical waste is disposed scientifically, while the remaining is either handled with municipal solid waste or recycled or reused for financial benefits, said a source, adding that individuals exposed to hospital waste were potential health risks. City govt`s incineration facility The KMC has been running two incinerators in the Haroonabad and Mewashah areas to dispose of hospital waste for more than a decade. A visit to the site showed that the incinerators run much below their capacity as the facility doesn`t receive adequate quantities of waste from hospitals. The incinerators are designed to handle one tonne waste per hour, according to staff posted at the municipal facility. However, the facility receives only two to five tonnes of waste per day that also includes liquid waste which is treated with sawdust before incineration. `It`s a common observation that most of the medical waste is sold for recycling through sweepers. At the facility, we receive waste only from a few hospitals, though 130 health facilities are registered with the KMC for the disposal of waste,` a city district government official at the site said, adding that the hospitals were charged between Rs2,400 and Rs50,000 monthly, depending on the number of their beds.According to the official, there are about 500 to 600 hospitals in the city whereas the number of clinics is around 2,000. The KMC doesn`t have powers to force health facilities to dispose of their waste properly. It has also come to light that no regular analysis of the flue gases and ash produced by incineration was carried out, a mandatory job under the relevant rules.
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