Medical waste scam detected at LNJP

LNJP Hospital conducts raids after complaint alleging sale of waste, including syringes and bottles, in market, reports Jaya Shroff.

Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital authorities on Tuesday conducted raids in its bio-medical waste storage dump after the medical superintendent received a complaint suggesting a large-scale scam in the disposal of waste.

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Vijay Kumar, a scrap dealer who earlier worked in the hospital as a contractor, filed a complaint with medical superintendent (MS) Dr Swaraj Batra informing her about irregular practices in disposal of waste in the backyard of the hospital.

Taking immediate action, Dr Batra ordered a four-member team comprising senior doctors in the hospital, including members from the hospital vigilance department and sanitation department, to check the matter.

The complaint mentioned that the scrap-dealing contractor was segregating waste and selling them separately. The usual practice is all bio-medical waste is shred in an autoclave machine, before being sold in the market by weight. Kumar in this complaint had alleged that the dealer was selling all the waste-rubber gloves, plastic (syringes, IV canellas and plastic bottles), glass and packing material separately.

“The committee found that this was indeed happening and large sacks of neatly separated waste were piled together, just waiting to be sold in the market. The committee managed to seal the products and filed a report to the MS,” said a source from the hospital.

Confirming that a secret raid had been conducted, additional medical superintendent and official spokesperson Dr Anjan Prakash said: “We are not required to speak on the issue. However, I can only confirm that inspections were conducted in the insinuator area and the MS has been informed.”

Dr Prakash refused to confirm whether the insinuator or the autoclave — the medical waste shredder machine — had been sealed. She did not comment on the waste separation either.