Every hospital generating bio-medical waste needs to set up treatment facilities at its premises or ensure treatment of waste at the common treatment facility, said Dr Bina R Sawhney, Chief Medical Officer, Directorate of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at the CII conference on Bio-Medical Waste Management organised at the CII Northern Region headquarters on Friday.

With India generating 5.4 MT of bio-medical waste annually, Daljit Singh, chairman, CII Healthcare Sub- Committee of Northern Region, said compliance and monitoring are critical for effective bio-medical waste management.

Dr O P Mittal, Director, Lab Services, Directorate General Health Services, Government of Haryana, said careless and indiscriminate disposal of the waste can affect the health of healthcare staff, patients and community.

Highlighting the technological strides in bio-medical waste management across the globe, Dr Vijay Agarwal mentioned various initiatives being adopted in hospitals in developed countries to reduce the use of mercury.

Dr Arati Verma, Chief - Medical Excellence Programmes, Max Healthcare; Dr Anita Sharma, Head - Lab Medicine, Fortis Hospital, Mohali; Dr Vandita Gupta, Becton Dickenson (BD) India; Dr Parminder Kaur, Head of Quality of Dr Lal Pathology Lab; Ashley Isaiah, General Superintendent, CMC, Ludhiana and Vipin Kaushal, Medical Superintendent, Government Medical College and Hospital Chandigarh, were among the delegates present on the occasion.

They focused on strategies to tackle the problem of bio-medical waste management through technological advancements and capacity building.