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Now, dump expired medicines at Municipal Corporation of Gurugram’s hub in Sector 43
Gurugram:
Gurugram:
To keep a check on health complications arising from expired medicines, the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has created a hub in sector 43 for collecting such products, the first such facility in Haryana, officials said on Wednesday.
According to MCG officials, residents can dump expired medicines at the hub, from where a bio-medical waste collection concessionaire would collect and incinerate them at a designated centre.
MCG officials said that until now, there was no mechanism for disposing of expired medicines in the city.
“The city only has only basic levels of waste segregation, primarily wet and dry waste. There are many other types of waste segregation levels, each of which have their own set of importance attached. Hence, last month the MCG launched a drive in condominiums to collect expired medicines. The aim was both educating people of its hazards as well as letting them know that a separate collection centre is being opened shortly where they can dump expired medicines in the future,” said Sonia Duhan, waste management expert, MCG, adding the drive was needed in making residents across the city aware about the collection hub.
Along with the Iamgurgaon NGO, MCG had launched a drive between September 15 and October 5 to collect expired medicines in more than 25 condominiums.43 kilograms of expired medicines were collected, said officials.
Duhan said at MCG’s “samadhaan hub” in sector 43, a separate waste centre was created earlier this week for dumping of expired medicines. The hub also has waste centres for dumping clothes, different types of plastic, and e-waste, officials said.
“One of our main aims behind the collection of expired medicines was to keep a check on the formation of superbugs. Due to improper dumping of mosquito coils, chemicals on the coil often get mixed with water bodies and over time, mosquitoes have built a resistance against them, deeming them ineffective. With expired medicines, especially antibiotics, we do not want different types of viruses to lso build resistance and become extremely dangerous for humans,” said a senior MCG official privy to the matter.
The samadhaan hub is open seven days a week, between 9 am and 6 pm.
“The expiry data carries high importance, especially in the case of antibiotics where consumption of sub therapeutic or less than recommended doses of antibiotic drugs will increase chances of resistance apart from not treating the primary disease. In addition, adverse effects can sometimes occur on consumption of expired medication such as injury to vital organs as a result of toxic degradation of the drug. It can also lead to drug allergies and skin rashes, especially in dermatological products,” said Dr Amitabh Parti, Director, Internal Medicine, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram.
Dr Col Vijay Dutta, Internal & Respiratory Medicine, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, said discarding expired medicines by flushing down the toilet or disposing them with usual garbage is extremely harmful for the environment, human beings and animals.
“The expired medicines can easily mix with water or end up in landfills and be indirectly consumed in several ways. The authorities should run awareness campaigns on segregation of waste at home not only in terms of biodegradable or non-biodegradable, but also emphasise on keeping expired medicines separately and give it to the collector. A strict policy for separating and destroying bioactive compounds at the final stage of segregation is a must,” said Dutta.
