Pune: A fine of Rs 25 thousand was imposed on Siddhivinayak Hospital after it was found they were dumping medical waste on the Chikhali - Moshi road. A team of health department officials from Zone C of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) conducted this action on Saturday (August 22). Siddhivinayak Hospital head Dr Parikshit Phengde was issued the receipt.
It was found that injections used in the hospital and medical hazardous waste were dumped in the landfill at Kudalwadi in Chikhali. Based on the documents found in the dumped waste, the health officials investigated the case and it was revealed that the medical waste belonged to Siddhivinayak Hospital. A team comprising of Assistant Commissioner and Ward Officer Anna Bodade, Assistant Health Officer B. B. Kamble, Health Inspector Vijay Dawale and Vaibhav Kanchangaudar carried out the investigation and took action against the hospital.
Dr Sunita Salvi, head of Akurdi Hospital, inspected the actual dumping of medical waste. After the inspection, they went to the hospital on Moshi Road and found that they did not have requisite permission for medical waste from the corporation. Siddhivinayak Hospital head Dr Parikshit Phengde was issued the receipt by Assistant Commissioner Anna Bodade.
Bombay High Court had recently directed the state government and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) to ensure the scientific disposal of COVID-19 waste along with the general biomedical waste. Recently, it came to light the Aundh General Hospital itself was violating the biomedical waste disposal norms.
The amount of daily COVID-19 waste generated in Pune city, Pimpri-Chinchwad city and rural areas of the district has now become equivalent to general biomedical waste. Before the outbreak in Pune, the daily generation of general biomedical waste in the city was nearly 5,000kg, which reduced after a drop in the admission of non-COVID patients in hospitals during the lockdown.
