KOTTAYAM: The Kottayam Medical College Hospital has no incinerator yet even after two years since the fund was allotted while different kinds of waste from various departments pose a health threat. As of now, all except biomedical wastes are being dumped at the precincts of its compound. Sources say the biomedical wastes are sent to Palakkad, and the rest dumped in its compound, though Rs 75 lakh was allotted for buying the incinerator and Rs 10 lakh for the building.
The incinerator should have the capacity to process 1,500 kg of waste in half an hour, separating surgical, biomedical, food and other kinds of wastes. The MCH authorities say the construction of the building is in its final phase. “We expect the arrival of the incinerator shortly,” MCH superintendent Dr T.K. Jayakumar told DC. The incinerator which was established in 2004 became dysfunctional by 2009 putting the waste disposal activities in disarray leading to allegations at a point that the medical and surgical wastes were dumped in pits in the compound itself.
