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Disposal of hospital waste delayed

12 Sep 2022

By Dinitha Rathnayake   A situation has arisen where the disposal of the waste of patients at hospitals in the Western and Southern Central provinces has been delayed. Speaking to The Morning, Association of Health Professionals President Ravi Kumudesh claimed that a private sector company has been contracted with the disposal of the waste of hospital patients with a sum of Rs. 100 paid for the removal of 1 kg of infectious waste. “This amount was decided in the year 2017, and at that time, a litre of diesel was available for around Rs. 85. Since the prices of all inputs like electricity and water have also increased, the concerned company has requested the Government to increase the agreed-upon price.” Moreover, due to the non-availability of the required diesel supply for this process and the arrears that are yet to be paid to the company, infectious waste accumulated in many hospitals last week, he stated. Since this issue is yet to be resolved and in the face of a situation where waste disposal has been completely privatised, it has not been possible to find any alternative method other than to let the waste collect at the hospitals. Allowing the accumulation of unsanitary waste and not disposing of it properly can lead to parasitic infections, lung infections, bacterial meningitis, HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, fungal infections, and bacteraemia (bloodstream bacteria, among many other unwanted problems, Kumudesh claimed.


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