The Government Ayurveda Medical College Hospital, Thripunithura, has no waste management facility on its premises.
A letter from the district office of the Pollution Control Board to the Principal of the medical college sent on December 11, 2018, asked the college authorities to take immediate steps for waste management and to get necessary permissions for its functioning.
Waste water is directly channelled to the open drain, while solid waste is being burnt in a damaged incinerator.
T.P. Sarasa, hospital superintendent, admitted that the college had no waste management facility.
Meanwhile, State Human Rights Commission Chairman Antony Dominic on Monday visited the college to take stock of the alleged inadequacies in water and waste management. After inspecting the water treatment plant and speaking to Dr. Sarasa, Mr. Dominic told the media that he would be submitting a report to the government. Besides the unhygienic condition and smell, waste water also enters nearby houses when it rains, said local residents Shaila Bassi, Soundamini Bhuvanendran and Rajani Ramesh, who wanted to complain to the SHRC Chairman but could not meet him.
B. Rajendran Pillai, general secretary, Pothujanarogya Samrakshana Samiti, who had written to the SHRC, said there were at least eight open wells and three borewells which were not being utilised properly. The Kerala Water Authority also supplied one lakh litres of water a day, he added.
“In spite of these resources, water is being bought in tanker lorries,” alleged Mr. Pillai. Dr. Sarasa told The Hindu that the institution required at least three lakh litres of water a day. Inadequate water in the pond and the wells had lowered the output of the treatment plant. Hence water had to be bought from outside, she added. The hospital has proposed to build storage tanks to keep four lakh litres as buffer stock, she said.