Chennai: Two Private Hospitals were recently slammed by the Greater Chennai Corporation for dumping medical waste in the corporation bins. The civic body issued notices to the facilities and imposed a fine of Rs 17 lakh.
Confirmation to this effect was given by Municipal Administration Minister P Velumani on Wednesday.
As per various media accounts, that claimed that a hospital had dumped, medical and solid waste on the Avvai Shanmugham Salai in Teynampet zones. Acting upon the information, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) issued notices to Apollo Hospitals on Greams Road and on Meenakshi Hospital.
According to a TNPCB official, the Board gave both the charged hospitals a total of seven days to respond. Meanwhile, the officials are waiting for the response to act it up with the board and levy environmental compensation on them.
Also Read: Doctor Slapped Rs 25,000 Fine For Violating Medical Waste Disposal Guidelines
The official also mentioned that blue and yellow bags must be used to dispose of biomedical waste while green bags must be used to dispose of solid waste.
Commenting on the issue, the Official told Times Now News, " We are not sure if this is the first time that they were disguising bio-medical waste as solid waste and disposing them off in corporation bins or it has come out in the open only after the new contractor bins or it has come out in the open only after the new contractor has taken over, We will issue a general instructions and conduct special drives to check on other hospitals as well."
Minister Velumani also added that several hospitals in Chennai hired vendors to dump medical waste like PPE kits and masks in bins, adds the report.