Nagpur: The new surge on Covid-19 cases has led to a sudden rise in biomedical waste generation in the city.
“There has been a near 84% increase in biomedical waste generation on account of Covid cases including used protective gear, masks, gloves and syringes,” said an official from Superb Hygienic Disposal (SHD), the firm engaged in collecting and disposing biomedical waste, in the city.
The official further said the SHD collected 31.63 metric tonne (Mt) biomedical waste in March as against 17.25Mt in February. “It means the city generated over 1,000kg biomedical waste in March. These figures apparently don’t take into account the waste generated by about 80% of Covid patients in home quarantine, who have been disposing of the waste as the domestic ones,” he said.
With no NMC facility available to collect biomedical waste generated by patients in home isolation, many are disposing of the waste in door-to-door garbage collection van. In October last year, the city had generated 54.449Mt of biomedical waste which gradually went down with the corresponding drop in cases to 17.25Mt in February.
Apart from the 80-odd dedicated Covid hospitals, the company also collects biomedical waste from 1,800 city establishments including 632 private hospitals, clinics, OPDs, pathology laboratories, radiology centres etc.
On an average, the city is generating around 1,500kg biomedical waste per day including more than 1,000 kg Covid-19 waste.
To a query, the official explained that in March 2020, the NMC had even categorized food for quarantine patients under biomedical waste. So the waste last year was 85,852 kg.
The rise in cases also means a rise in the financial costs of hospitals. For Covid waste, the firm charges Rs 100 per kg while for non-Covid waste, hospitals are being charged Rs 164 per bed.
Many private hospitals with no storage facilities for biomedical waste have been urging the firm to make more trips a day. The firm has also increased lifting time of garbage and it has been working from 8am to 8pm. Besides, it has increased both manpower and vehicles for lifting the waste. From 40 employees and two vehicles, the firm has now engaged 90 employees and 20 vehicles.