Background:

With a view to control the indiscriminate disposal of hospital waste/bio medical waste, the Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt. of India has issued a notification on Bio Medical Waste Management under the Environment (Protection) Act.  Govt. of NCT of Delhi in its notification dated 6th July, 1999 has authorised Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) for the purpose of granting authorisation for collection, reception, storage, treatment and disposal of bio medical waste to implement the Bio Medical Waste Management Rules, 1998.  Govt. of NCT of Delhi has also constituted advisory committee, appellate authority in exercise of powers conferred under Bio Medical rules.   Some of the salient features of these rules are:

Rules are Applicable to:

These Rules will apply to hospitals, Nursing Homes, Veterinary Hospitals, Animal Houses, Pathological labs & blood banks, generating hospital wastes. (except such occupier of clinics, dispensaries, pathological labs, blood banks providing treatment/service to less than 1000 (one thousand) patients per month).

Duty:

It shall be the duty of the every occupier of an institution generating bio medical waste which includes a hospital, nursing home, clinic, dispensary, Veterinary institution animal house, pathological laboratory, blood bank by whatever name called to take all steps to ensure-that such waste is handled without any adverse effect to the human health and the environment.

Management of Bio-Medical Waste:

Every occupier generating the bio-medical waste need to install an appropriate facility in the premises or set up a common facility to ensure requisite treatment of waste by 30.6.2000 in accordance with Schedule-I and in compliance with standards prescribed with Schedule-V.

The bio medical waste need to be segregated into container/bags at the point of generation in accordance with Schedule-II, prior to its storage, transportation, treatment and disposal. The container shall be labeled according to Schedule-III.

Mandatory/Legal Requirement:

Every occupier of an institution, generating, collecting, receiving, storing, transporting, treating, disposing and/or handling bio medical waste in any other manner, shall make an application in Form-I along with the following fee structure to the Delhi Pollution Control Committee for grant of authorisation. The Form-I can be obtained after paying an amount of Rs. 100/- in the form of Draft in favour of DPCC.  It can also be downloaded from this web site but an additional draft for Rs. 100/- in favor of DPCC may also be attached with the application at the time of submission of application.

An operator of bio-medical waste facility may also engage in transportation of bio-medical waste on payment of additional fees prescribed for a transporter of bio-medical waste.

An application in Form-I appended to the aforesaid rule shall be made to the prescribed authority i.e. the Chairman, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, for grant of authorisation along with the checking of documents as given in check list, wherever applicable.

An authorisation shall be granted for a period of 3 years, including an initial trial period of one year for which a provisional authorisation will be granted. All authorisation shall be for a period of three years. Fee shall be payable for three years at time. The above fee structure is subject to revision from time to time.

The Government's notification No. F.23(522)/95-Env/99 dated the 6th July 1999, issued in pursuance of rule 8(3) ibid shall stand superseded with immediate effect).

An operator of a facility shall make an application form in Form-I with the fee as applicable for grant of authorisation.

In addition, they shall also submit an annual report to DPCC in Form-II by 31st January every year to include information about the categories and quantities of bio medical wastes handled during the proceeding year and also maintain records related to the generation, collection, reception, storage, transportation, treatment, disposal, and/or any form of handling of bio medical waste in accordance with rules and guidelines issued. All records shall be subject to inspection and verification by the DPCC at any time.

The transporter, operator of a facility shall label the Bio-Medical strictly in accordance with the procedure given in Schedule-IV.

Penalty:

The defaulting hospitals/nursing homes etc. are liable to be penalised as per the provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and other pollution control Acts.

Appeal:

Any person aggrieved by an order made by the DPCC under these rules may within thirty days from date on which the order is communicated to him, prefer an appeal to the Financial Commissioner, Govt. of NCT of Delhi who is appointed as Appellate Authority under the rules.

With the objective to provide the common facility as envisaged under the rules Delhi Pollution Control Committee has authorized the operator of a facility who collects, transports, treats and disposes the waste in accordance with the provisions of the rules. At present Delhi Pollution Control Committee has authorized three such operators of a facility out of which one of the operator of a facility namely M/ S India Waste Energy Development Ltd authorization had been cancelled by Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the matter is sub-judice in the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi.

The names and addresses of the two other operators authorized by Delhi Pollution Control Committee are given below;

In Delhi according to the records available as per the ANNUAL REPORT submitted by the individual hospitals and also by the operators of a facility 22446kg/Day waste are generated.

In Delhi besides these two operators of facility, a number of Government and private hospitals have installed their own waste disposal facilities in their hospitals for disposal of the waste generated. At present as per records in Delhi 11 incinerators, 18  autoclaves and 2 microwaves are in operation. Besides this, a Government facilitated operator is in the process of installing the facility at Okhla, which is expected to come in 6 months time.