Hospitals in NCR cities fare no better

Much like their cousins in Delhi, hospitals in Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad have also been found flouting biomedical waste disposal rules with impunity.

Much like their cousins in Delhi, hospitals in Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad have also been found flouting biomedical waste disposal rules with impunity.

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The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, which covers Noida and Gurgaon, inspected a large number of hospitals. But it could furnish information regarding only 23. "Of them, 20 hospitals were found violating the rules," it said.

A bench headed by National Green Tribunal (NGT) chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar on Wednesday ordered the UPPCB to file a final report and take action against errant hospitals before July 19.

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board told the tribunal that the hospitals inspected earlier have begun complying with the biomedical waste rules. The tribunal, however, ordered any five of these hospitals -- including small and big ones -- be inspected again and a report submitted by July 19, when the matter would be heard next.

Several hospitals in these cities have been told to explain why appropriate order and directions be not passed against them and they be directed to pay compensation on the principle of ''polluter pays".

Meanwhile, the NGT has also asked the Central Pollution Control Board and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to identify approved recyclers of plastic waste. "We make it clear that only those units should be approved which are capable of strictly adhering to the collection, treatment and disposal of biomedical waste or the plastic waste as per the law," the tribunal said on Wednesday.

"We also direct the inspection team to place on record mercury phasing out programme for the hospitals which are still using mercury instruments such as blood pressure measuring guage and thermometer, etc. The report shall specifically state as to which hospitals have already dispensed with the use of mercury in their medical diagnosis and treatment," the tribunal said.