MARGAO
The Margao Municipal Council has finally cleared the dark spot at Comba from the bio-medical waste, but the bigger question remains unanswered – are all the city-based medical institutions, including the medical stores disposing of the bio-medical waste at the treatment facility at Kundaim Industrial estate?
Taken aback at the bio-medical waste disposed of at the Comba dark spot, the Margao Municipal Council has mulled action on two fronts. One, by writing to the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to ascertain the source of the drugs disposed of at the dark spot by verifying the details on the expired medicines. Two, to dash a letter to the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) seeking details on whether all the registered medical institutions and stores registered with the pollution board have complied with the directions to send the bio-medical waste to the Kundaim treatment facility.
“The MMC has stored the medical waste at Sonsodo and is now in the process of writing a letter to the FDA to go through the root of the issue by verifying the details on the medicines,” informed Margao Municipal Sanitary Inspector, Viraj Arabekar.
He said the MMC is seeking FDA help to identify the units and stores responsible for disposing of the waste at the dark spot.
To a question, the sanitary inspector said the civic body has no data on the number of medical institutions in the city, including the clinics, hospitals and nursing rooms, besides the medical stores handing over their waste to the agency manning the Kundaim bio-medical waste treatment facility.
Sources in the know said that it’s now over six months since the Kundaim bio-medical waste treatment facility was commissioned as Goa’s centralized unit.
In the past, the Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) had issued directions to the civic bodies across the State to stop collecting bio-medical waste from the medical institutions and instead direct the operators to hand over the trash to the agency handling the Kundaim treatment plant.
“We have information that several medical institutions have started handing the bio-medical waste to the agency at Kundaim. Still, we will find out from GSPCB how many institutions have still not yet handed the waste to the agency and ascertain how to make them dispose of the waste at the Kundaim facility,” Arabekar added.
