Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique has said that the Health Department will seek help from the Lahore Waste Management Company in disposing of waste from public hospitals. The LWMC will set up a centralised hospital waste management system in the suburbs for this purpose.
Rafique was presiding over a meeting on the matter on Tuesday. Participants of the meeting discussed the options of an autoclave system and incineration system.
Rafique said the transportation and disposal of waste will be carried out by the LWMC and the Health Department will pay it according to the set rates. He said the Hospital Waste Management Rules 2005 would be ammended to make private hospitals part of this system. Environment Protection Secretary Rasheed Chaudhry said the disposal of hospital waste was not only the Health Department’s responsibility but also an environmental problem.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2014.