A confidential report filed by the CB-CID of the TN police to the National Green Tribunal has found that Chennai’s Kanchi Kamakoti CHILDS Trust Hospital had sold infectious bio-medical waste to an unauthorised vendor in violation of the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, reports TNIE.
“Though the report has not been made public, the order of the tribunal implicated a private company—Karung Kalikamba Enterprises of Tondiarpet -- for purchasing biomedical waste from Kanchi Kamakoti Sankara CHILDS Trust Hospital, Nungambakkam," said M Velmurugan, counsel for the petitioner Jawaharlal Shanmugam, to TOI.
The tribunal’s order revealed that the hospital had sold 240 kg of BMW during three months in 2015 to M/s Karung Kalikamba Enterprises based in Tondiarpet in Chennai.
The NGT has ordered the TN Pollution Control Board to shut down M/s Karung Enterprises and initiate criminal proceedings against them, as well as the nursing director and medical director of the Child’s Trust Hospital, who had authorised the illegal sale. The TNPCB has also been asked to investigate if other hospitals sold waste to the illegal vendor, and to initiate action against 21 hospitals for violating the rules.
In July, photographic evidence of the hospital selling 230kgs of bio-medical waste illegally was submitted to the NGT.
Bio-medical waste management rules state that hospitals should dispose bio-medical waste through state-appointed Common Treatment Facility Provider.