Goemkarponn desk
KUNDAIM:
As per the directions of the National Green Tribunal, the State government has finally set up a State of the art facility at Kundaim to treat bio-medical waste, which had become a major headache for hospitals and clinics.
Goa currently does not have a Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility (CBWTF) to treat and dispose of its biomedical waste.
The one at Goa Medical College (GMC) often breaks down, leading to the bags being dumped behind the hospital, giving a foul stench and causes pollution.
At times the waste is also burnt in the open, which is harmful to the environment.
The Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) has set up a State-of-the-art Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facility at Plot No BW-1 in Kundaim IDC through its Concessionaire M/s Biotic Waste Solutions Pvt Ltd. for Scientific Management and disposal of Biomedical Waste generated within the State of Goa.
“The Development of the complete facility and Operation & Maintenance of the CBWTF will be through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) on a Design, Build, Operate, and Transfer (DBOT) basis, wherein the complete plant infrastructure has been implemented by the Concessionaire along with Collection of waste, its operations and maintenance & disposal for a period of 20 years,” Minister for Waste Management Michael Lobo said.
He said the installation and construction work of the incinerator, Autoclave, shredder & ETP has been completed, and presently trial and operation runs of the same are in process.
“The Goa State Pollution Control Board has granted Consent to Operate and Authorisation for this Facility. Goa-IDC has granted an Occupancy certificate for the said project. The Plant has been set up in a record time of 11 months during the pandemic and complete,d much ahead of the scheduled completion date of completion i.e. December 2021. This Plant will help to boost the treatment and disposal mechanism of Biomedical waste within the State of Goa to a Great Extent,” he said.
He said the Plant is non-polluting, and the final outcome would be ash, which would be sent to Pissurlem for treatment.
WHO WILL FOOT THE BILL?
While there is no denying the Plant is non-polluting and, to a major extent, solve the bio-medical waste issue, what is important is to recover the operations cost and the plant cost; the Operators M/s Biotics would charge a “nominal” fee to hospitals and clinics.
The operator would use his own vehicle to collect the waste from every hospital in a segregated manner.
However, the doctors said that the fees charges are too high.
“We wanted a normal facility, but what has been given to us is a five-star facility, and it would be challenging to pay the charges,” said a doctor.
Another doctor said that the government would charge them Rs 9.95 per bed, irrespective of occupancy.
“Even if we have 2 patients in 100-bedded hospitals, we will have to pay for 100 beds, which is not right. We have asked the government to give some concession,” stated the doctor.
Besides this, the doctor also lamented that the bags for waste will have to be purchased from the operator, which is three times more than the market rate.
“The bags will cost Rs 188 per kg, which we can get in the market for Rs 60-Rs 70,” doctors said, adding “this is going to be a costly bargain, and the clinics, hospitals will pass on the cost to the patients,” he said.
