Tamilnadu is proud to have many hundreds of ultramodern hospitals and many thousands of petty clinics, nursing homes and minor hospitals. To meet the needs of 60,000,000 people the number hospitals and health care centers are insufficient. Around 63% are literate in this 130058 sqkm area. Railways stretch to above 3938 kms. But still with many infrastructures and with wide variety of floating population health care needs and disposal of medical wastes are yet to be pondered into seriously.
The most sophisticated and most popular hospital like Apollo hospitals has its head quarters here in Tamilnadu. It has 32 hospitals around the world with 570 beds, 3300 people on its role 420 doctors 2600 support personnels in its Indira Prastha Medical Corporation in Delhi for which Apollo has obtained the gold seal of quality from Joint commission International of the US. Totally in 32 hospitals owned by Apollo there are 7000 beds and 16000 employees. This is the only hospital in Chennai which takes utmost care for its medical waste disposal. To maintain quality and to attract multivarious patients from various countries the management in Chennai head office has a team of service minded staff to clear all medical wastes. Due to this IMCL obtained ICI certification eventhough 5 hospitals like Ramachandra Medical Hospital, Chennai Wockhardt in Mumbai, Manipal hospital in Mangalore etc were in the que.
Actually Chennai, India attract 160,000 foreigners for treatment from Europe, middle East and Canada with an earning of $33 million year. So there is a competition to improve health environment in the hospitals in Tamilnadu. But still more to be done as illiteracy, negligence and lack of civic sense dominates majority of the population.
The statisticians say that 33585 kilos of medicals wastes are generated everyday. It covers all medical centers, veterinary hospitals, petty nursing homes, test laboratories, maternity hospitals, district health care units etc.
It is staggering to note that annually about 5 crores kilos of medicall wastes are produced and the enviromentals fear that it would spread dreadful diseases like cancer; Aids and contagious diseases to the future generation.
The recently renovated Govt. general hospital is along the river Cooum which is the dirtiest river in India. Rs. 104 crore have been spent to reconstruct this 7 starey twin tower Hospital run by govt. of Tamilnadu with 18 lifts, parking facilities to accommodate 100 cars, a conference hall to accommodate 250, centralised AC, 700 doctors, 1800 beds, 17 surgical units with digital camera, video conferencing facilities for surgeons, Asias biggest blood bank, 57 male nurses and female nurses 450. For such a vast hospital to maintain the disposal of medical wastes is not an easy job. So the govt. decided to leave it to private parties thro open tender. Around 50 persons have been posted temporality to manage the wastes. Bone bank is another specialty in this hospital. This is the only one in India says the Dr. Mayilaganan. To cater the needs of the poor, metal plates are fixed at free of cost in his hospital even though other hospitals charge Rs.30,000 to Rs. 40,000. Bones available here have been imported from Bone bank of Ceylon. The doctors say that they can preserve bones for 5 years with the equipments they possess.
Inspite of so many advanced facilities the unusable, most contaminated river Cooum spoils the whole Mega project. Unless severe steps are taken to clear all the medical wastes properly, the river along this hospital will become another godown of medical wastes thrown out by this multicrore vast hospital. As it caters the needs of the poor, many thousands will throng everyday and upkeep itself is a big project. These poor are uneducated and lack decorum. So the fascinating hospital area will turn into a slum if proper check is not done. Spitting, vomitting, defecating along the corridors, sit outs, lounge and balconies will have to be watched every 24 hrs and it has to be cleared then and there.
Disposal of medicines by the inpatients and outpatients will also a big head ache. Several stainless steel waste baskets have been provided but lack of civil sense will only make the area scattered with unwanted wastes.
Coimbatore is another big city in Tamilnadu. It is popular for textile mills and textile business. It is said that about 600 tonne of municipal and medical wastes are generated per day in this city out of this 35 tpd are recyclable waste say the authorities. This huge waste is dumped in Vellalore compost yard a few Kilometers away from heart of the city.
The municipal corporation of Coimbatore intends to start a recycling plant as well as a plant for composting waste on BOT basis by engaging private investors and companies. This recycling plant will be built in Ukkadam. The area allotted is 5 acres for a lease basis of 25 years.
