Rs 12 lakh spent on monthly basis in Gurugram
GURUGRAM: To make sure that the infection of COVID-19 does not spread further in Gurugram, the medical staff, sanitation workers and the district administration are ensuring that COVID-19 biomedical waste gets properly discarded.
According to city doctors, 60 per cent of the waste that includes blood bags, body fluids, cotton swabs, face masks, caps and gloves have to be discarded in the span of 24 hours to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
They are disposed off by the process of incineration where in the primary stage they are burnt at a temperature of 850 degree Celsius and in the secondary stage the temperature goes up to 1050 degree Celsius. In Gurugram, this process is carried out daily in a secluded area near Sector-37.
Forty per cent of the waste that normally involves plastic equipments used for testing also has to be carefully disposed off in less than 48 hours.
A sum of Rs 12 lakh is being spent every month for COVID-19 medical waste in Gurugram. Around 450 kilograms biomedical waste is generated from the COVID-19 medical centres. A team of 60 persons are involved in collecting and disposing the biomedical waste in Gurugram.
There is only one waste collecting agency that is presently undertaking this task in the city.
Speaking to the Millennium Post, a senior official of the waste collecting agency highlighted how the firm is incurring losses due to the payments from the clients being blocked due to the lockdown. The official also highlighted that the insurance and the cost involved in the safety of the workers were also being borne by the company.
Not only the waste collection but even the hospitals, quarantine centres and the urban local bodies have to ensure that the COVID-19 waste is carefully segregated, isolated, packed and then sent for disposal.
As per the official guidelines, for collecting the COVID-19 biomedical waste a double layered yellow bag is used. It has to be responsibility of the medical staff to ensure that the bag used has adequate strength and there are no leaks. There has to be specific trolleys that are to be used.
It has also been directed that the inner and outer surface of the containers used for storage and collection of the COVID-19 has to be treated with one per cent of sodium hypochlorite solution.
It is important to note that 5.5 metric tonnes of biomedical waste of COVID-19 used to get generated from Gurugram daily. This has reduced to 3.8 metric tonnes from the time cases of COVID-19 have begun to be reported from the city.
