3 tonnes of medical waste recovered from a junk shop in Chattogram

Medical waste management is still chaotic and hazardous in Chattogram as it is not incinerated and is available in city junk shops, processed there for resale.

The environment department raiding a junk shop in Bandar Thana of the city on Thursday filed a case against two persons on charges of transporting, storing, processing, and selling medical waste.   

The two accused are the owner of the junk shop and a resident of TG Colony, Md Siddique, and proprietor of the Chattogram Seba Sangstha, Zamir Uddin.

Chattogram Metropolitan DoE Deputy Director, Mia Mahmudul Haque, told The Business Standard (TBS) that on a tip off, DoE recovered three tons of medical waste from a junk shop in a raid at TG colony. The toxic waste was found stored openly and indiscriminately under unsafe conditions, and was being processed by two or three female workers without any safety measures.   

Siddique admitted his offence during the hearing on Thursday and informed the DoE officials that they process such medical waste, collecting it from various dumping stations and dustbins of the city corporation.

Chattogram Metropolitan DoE Director, Hillol Biswas told TBS that according to the Medical Waste (management and processing) Rules, 2008, such waste must be incinerated and destroyed.

Chattogram Seba Sangstha is responsible for handing over the medical waste to the proper authorities at incineration points built by JICA, after collecting and transporting the waste from hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic centres. The case was filed against the proprietor of the organisation and the shop owner for not doing their jobs properly.