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Bio Medical Waste A Corporate Responsibility Dilemma in INDIA ______________________________________________________________________________ Amarpreet Singh Ghura 1,* , Dr. CM Sankaran Kutty 2 Abstract Medical care is vital for our life, health and well being and there has been phenomenal increasein the healthcare facilities (for humans and animals) in India .Currently the country can boast of 1!!" #ospitals$ %&'"" dispensaries$ &1&" *egistered Medical practitioners$ %+!""" nurses$%%&""" u-iliary nurses Midwives .It is estimated that Indian health care industry is growingat a rate of 1%/ per annum. 0ut the waste generated from medical activities can be haardous,to-ic and even lethal because of their high potential for diseases transmission. 2he haardous andto-ic parts of waste from health care establishments comprising infectious, bio3medical andradio3active material as well as sharps (hypodermic needles, 4nives, scalpels etc.) constitute agrave ris4, if these are not properly treated 5 disposed or are allowed to get mi-ed with other municipal waste. 2his paper recognies the mounting problems faced by the society due toe-posure to untreated disposal of 0iomedical wastes from a large number of health centers .2heguidelines for their orderly disposal as provided in the legal framewor4 is overloo4ed .nawareness campaign to educate the layman about the harmful effects of these wastes is yet toevolve. 2his paper loo4s into the current status of disposal of biomedical waste in the city of Mumbai and aims to recommend some viable strategies for managing this problem. Key Words 6 Corporate *esponsibility, 0iomedical 7aste, #ealth Care, 0usiness 8thics. ______________________________________________________________________________ 1,9 ssistant :rofessor cademic coordinator ;uru<ana4 Institute of Management =tudies, Mumbai and *esearch =cholar at >>2 ?niversity, >hun@hunu, *a@asthan, India. (profasghuraAgmail.com)%. Bisiting aculty for management studies. Introduction 30io3medical waste means any solid and5or liDuid waste including its container and anyintermediate product, which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunisation of human beings or animals or in research pertaining thereto or in the production or testing thereof.2here has been phenomenal increase in the healthcare facilities (for humans and animals) inIndia .Currently the country can boast of 1!!" #ospitals $ %&'"" dispensaries$&1&"*egistered Medical practitioners $ %+!""" nurses$ %%&""" u-iliary nurses Midwives . 2odaya new category of profit oriented hospitals have come up with focus only on investor benefits.Itis estimated that Indian health care industry is growing at a rate of 1%/ per annum and =tudieshave shown that about three fourth of the total waste generated in health care establishments isnon3haardous and non3to-ic. =ome estimates put the infectious waste at 1!/ and other haardous waste at !/. India generates more than la4h tones of medical waste annually.llover the country, unsegregated and untreated biomedical waste is being indiscriminatelydiscarded into municipal bins, dumps sites, on roadsides, in water bodies or is beingincompletely and improperly burnt in the open. ll this is leading to rapid proliferation andspreading of infectious, dangerous and fatal communicable diseases li4e hepatitis, IE= andseveral types of cancers. In urban and rural areas ali4e, incidence and prevalence of several suchhuman diseases has increased and the per capita medical e-penditure has also gone high severalfolds. lthough, yet to be proven, morbidity or illness amongst both urban and rural dwellers hasincreased albeit for different reasons. 2he Ministry of 8nvironment and orests, ;ovt. of Indiahas notified the 0iomedical 7aste (Management and #andling) rules 1++ with subseDuentamendments (% nd >une%""" and =eptember %""). #owever, only !31"/ of institutions in thecountry have implemented the *ules or are following them at present. ?nfortunately, somewestern countries, in the garb of managing their biomedical wastes, are adding to our problems by e-porting their wastes to poorer countries. Literature Review Sudesna Catter!ee and "yoti Selar #$%&$' & reported that "/ of Mumbai hospitals flout bio3waste disposal norms and haardous waste which is very dangerous and which needs to beincinerated at +"" degrees Celsius and is not segregated at source, moreover the disposal agencyofficial have also reported that they hardly receive used syringes and saline bottles which further raises fears that this bio3waste is recycled in the mar4et.Eirector of =M= 8nvoclean, Cetan Bora #$%&$' $ has mentioned that eighty percent of government and private hospitals do not segregate medical waste at source, thus to raiseawareness, =M= 8nvoclean regularly send posters on the right disposal method to all healthcareunits and the bio3degradable bags which =M= 8nvoclean sells also carry information about howused medical items can be separated, but all these efforts have proved to be futile. (eda )e*de+ RD Kul,arni and -S A!anta #$%%.' / are of the opinion that proper handling,treatment and disposal of biomedical wastes are important elements of health care officeinfection control programme and correct procedure will help protect health care wor4ers, patientsand the local community. *egional Ffficer at Maharashtra pollution control board Dr "itendra San*ewar #$%&$' 0 reportedthat Maharashtra pollution control board is considering steps to ensure that hospitals areencouraged to maintain hygiene during waste disposal and this includes ma4ing the hospital sign ban4 guarantee over 1 la4h and if the hospitals fails to meet any of norms, then Maharashtra pollution control board will encash the ban4 guarantee.Member =ecretary 7est 0engal :ollution Control 0oard Sandipan Mu,er!ee 1 #$%&%' hasmentioned in the report that total biomedical waste generated in the state of 7est 0engal isaround1%""" M2 per year and with a rate of increase of 1/ per year, the annual generation of biomedical waste in the state has been estimated to be nearly 1!"" M2 in the year %"%". t present ! large and % small Common biomedical waste 2reatment acilities and 1' =tand3lone2reatment acilities are functioning in the state, but as a whole only %/ of biomedical waste is being treated as most of the health care units are yet to be incorporated in the managementregime. 2e researc desi*n and metodolo*y is presented under te 3ollowin* eads4Area o3 Study 2his research is limited to Mumbai City. Nature and Source o3 Data 2he proposed study is based on both primary and secondary data. systematic analysis of theoperational aspects of a leading incinerator unit located at Eeonar, a suburb of Mumbai City, has been done to e-pose the gravity of the situation. 2ools 5sed =:== 1&.=tructured Duestionnaire along with interviews was used for eliciting the views on 0iomedicalwaste. 2he Duestionnaire contained Duestions on influencing factor and other related aspects. Data Analysis6 Eata collected is analyed with the help of Chi3sDuare test. )ypotesis Statement # " G 2here is no social awareness about the dangerous conseDuences of improper treatment of medical waste.# 1 G 2here is social awareness about the dangerous conseDuences of improper treatment of medical waste. 2e 7roblem 2he growth as aforesaid is accompanied by a lot of wastes being generated in the course of their operations which is a heterogeneous mi-ture, which is very difficult to manage as such. 2hesewastes are to-ic and infectious and there is ample evidence to suggest that unplanned disposal of bio medical wastes are li4ely to generate social concerns of various sorts, i.e.1.2hreat to life%.8nvironmental pollution.;enetic disorder '.Fccupational #aards !.2hreat to nimal Hife ?ntreated and non segregated biomedical wastes are being indiscriminately discarded intoMunicipal bins, dump sites, on road sides, in water bodies or improperly burned in the open.ll these are leading to rapid proliferation and spreading of infectious, dangerous and fatalcommunicable diseases such as #epatitis, IE=, Cancer etc. s a result the per capita medicale-penses by average Indian has gone up to disturbing level. 2he indiscriminate disposal of sharpswithin and outside institution leads to haards li4e <eedle stitch in@uries, cuts and infectionsamong hospital employees, Municipal wor4ers and rag pic4ers, this in turn can increase theincidence of #epatitis, #IB and other dreadful diseases. =ome of the affected may succumb tosuch fatal diseases. It is estimated that in every four 4ilogram of waste generated in any hospitalat least one 4ilogram will be infectious. Components o3 Bio6medical waste&4 #uman anatomical waste (tissues, organs, body parts etc.), $4 nimal waste (as above, generated during research5e-perimentation, from veterinaryhospitals etc.), /4 Microbiology and biotechnology waste, such as, laboratory cultures, micro3organisms,human and animal cell cultures, to-ins etc., 04 7aste sharps, such as, hypodermic needles, syringes, scalpels, bro4en glass etc., 14 Eiscarded medicines and cyto3to-ic drugs 84 =oiled waste, such as dressing, bandages, plaster casts, material contaminated with bloodetc., .4 =olid waste (disposable items li4e tubes, catheters etc. e-cluding sharps), 94 HiDuid waste generated from any of the infected areas, :4 Incineration ash, &%4 Chemical waste.
