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Deadlock over incineration fee
From page 5
College Hospital, Park View Medical College Hospital, Noorjahan Hospital and Al Haramain Hospital -- are yet to accept the proposal, said the PRISM official.
LONE INCINERATOR DOESN’T WORK
The city has only one incinerator at MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital.
Its Deputy Director Dr Himangshu Lal Roy said, “Our incinerator has remained out of order for five years. The city corporation is collecting waste produced here. We have a pit where we burn some waste.”
IMPACTS ON HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT
Meanwhile, tonnes of untreated clinical waste being dumped near the wetland “Bharera Beel” are causing health risks and environmental degradation, said experts. Such a situation exists due to indifference of the government and hospital authorities and subsequent absence of necessary apparatuses for decades, they said.
More than one lakh people live near the marshland. They depend on it for their livelihood. During dry season, they grew crops; and in the monsoon, they catch fish.
The garbage is being spread to nearby 200 acres of farmland, said locals demonstrating over the issue.
Ajmol Miah, a farmer living there, said, “During rainy season, my farmland is flooded with waste, causing difficulties in cultivating crops. Besides, quality of the yield is becoming poor as soil is losing fertility.”
Misbah Uddin, caretaker of two nearby fisheries, said, “When it rains, the waste and contaminated water enter the waterbodies, killing fish. Last monsoon, we lost fish fries worth Tk 2 lakh.”
Monoronjon Talukder, a local, said, “More than 100 fishermen in nearby Gotatikor and Dhopapara areas switched their profession as they do not find fish in the beel.”
“Besides, many were injured with sharp objects hidden inside the marshland,” he said.
During a recent visit to the site, this correspondent found many ragpickers collecting items -- including syringe, saline bag and medicine ampoule -- without using safely gears.
Ten-year-old Mohammad Khoka and his mother Shikha Begum were among them.
Khoka, a third-grader of a local school, said he collects the items because he can earn money by selling those.
But, neither the boy nor his mother know that these are full of germs and may cause serious health risk.
Dr Debapada Roy, director of Directorate General of Health Services in Sylhet, said, “Such medical waste can cause serious respiratory, skin and other problems to them.”
Civil Surgeon Dr Premananda Mandol echoed the same.
Shikha Begum, another ragpicker, said around 50-60 people -- including 10-12 children -- collect items every day and earn Tk 300-500 each daily by selling those.
When asked about health risk, Shikha said she is not aware of it.
Based on the collection, a business group to purchase those items has been formed near the dumping ground.
Prof Jahir Bin Alam of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology said, “The dumped medical waste has been damaging soil and contaminating water and air for years in the surrounding areas.”
“In a test around two years ago, we found mercury, cadmium, zinc and copper in groundwater collected from tube-wells within 5km in the area,” he said, adding that canal water was also in similar situation.
The contamination might spread to the nearby Surma river, said Prof Jahir.
The people living in the area are at high risk of being affected with many diseases like cancer. Children are most vulnerable, he said.
PROTESTS CONTINUE
Locals and environmentalists have been protesting the unplanned waste dumping for a long time.
Ana Miah, convener of Krishak and Paribesh Rakkha Committee of Dakshin Surma, said, “We have formed a human chain and submitted a memorandum to all authorities concerned to save Bharera Beel and the farmland.”
Expressing concern over such dumping, Abdul Karim Kim, general secretary of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon’s Sylhet chapter, said, “It is posing a serious environmental threat. It is deeply concerning that they [the authorities] are treating medical waste as general waste.”
“We demand immediate change of this situation.”