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Garbage containers a sore for Mirpur eye hospital, post office

HelemulAlam
The appalling sight of garbage right in front of a hospital in Mirpur 2 is a stark reminder of the sheer negligence, lack of foresightedness and apathy plaguing Dhaka city's waste management system.
But the single metal container, resembling a covered skip, some 15 feet in front of OSB Eye Hospital is not the only place serving as a garbage collection point in the hospital's vicinity for the last two and a half years.
Just 20 feet away, in front of Mirpur Post Office, are four more, occupying nearly two-thirds of the road.
As the day rolls on, the garbage piles increase in volume as collectors pushing carts scurry to and fro bringing in refuse from nearby neighbourhoods.
They initially dump it beside the containers, sorting out recyclable items, attracting flies along with crows and stray cats and dogs, which scatter the waste even further.
Apart from emitting the nauseous stench which engulfs the hospital and nearby establishments, the containers ooze out liquid waste reeking of dead and decaying matter.
The summer heat aggravates the rotting process and the rains do any-
thing but subdue the stench.
A little respite comes at night when trucks take away the garbage to the Amin Bazar landfill, replacing the containers with empty ones. However, the substitutes are not washed before being placed, leaving the noxious odour to continue to hang in the air.
What it does to the doctors, nurses and hundreds of patients who arrive every day along with the post office staff and passers-by is not hard to imagine.
"I often have to keep a scarf over my face all day long for relief," the hospital staff Nazmun Nahar said during a recent conversation.
Md Niyarul Islam said he and other medical sales representatives were forced to work in the midst of the putrid smell for the hospital does not allow them in.
The disapproval of the environment was also evident in Afroja Akhtar, who was afraid that her two daughters whom she had brought in for treatment might contract something more severe.
The garbage might pose a health risk, including airborne diseases, to the numerous patients who come seeking treatment for various complications and to those who have to get admitted, said the hospital's Assistant Director
(administration) Nazrul Islam.
Many of those who have undergone the experience suggested alternative arrangements or, at least, sealable and lockable facilities for storing waste for short periods and for transfer so as to suit the comforts of the locality and be environment friendly.
Nazrul said they requested shifting the containers several times through letters, the last one being sent on August 11,2014.
But Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) always replied that they were helpless for the lack of available space, he said.
The scarcity of land is a big problem, said DNCC Superintendent Engineer Mesbahul Karim.
He said they were trying to shift the containers gradually to a newly constructed road stretching from Grameen Bank in Mirpur to Agargaon.
They have already sent letters to different government organisations requesting land at 23 places to set up waste transfer stations, he added.
Whether those entrusted with ensuring half of the city's sanitation can deliver remains to be seen. Meanwhile people frequenting the area keep their fingers crossed hoping to, literally, breathe a sigh of relief.