OPCB asked to act against erring hospitals

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Friday directed the Odisha Pollution Control Board (OPCB) to initiate criminal proceedings against the hospitals (both government and private) which are not properly disposing of biomedical wastes generated in their campuses.

Adjudicating over a PIL filed by a Cuttack-based social organisation Maitree Sansad and after going through a report of the Advocates' Committee set up exclusively for this purpose, a Division Bench of Justices Laxmikanta Mohapatra and Indrajeet Mohanti expressed concern over the unscientific manner in which the biomedical wastes generated from hospitals are disposed of.

The Bench asked the Pollution Control Board to initiate criminal proceedings against the erring hospital authorities immediately.

Earlier, the High Court appointed Advocates' Committee submitted a status report of the government hospitals located in at least 15 districts and informed the Court that while there are remarkable improvement in biomedical waste management in teaching hospitals, the situation in the district headquarters hospitals are worst.