From: Ian blenkharn@ianblenkharn.com
Category: News & information
Date: 16 Feb 2008
Time: 12:54:07 +0100
Remote Name: 86.134.111.185
Incinerators that don't work, medical waste bags strewn all over the place, decomposing bodies turning up in unexpected places - one wouldn't normally expect to find all this at a hospital.
But in Kerala's state-run medical facilities, it's truly a dismal state of affairs and that too, at a place where people go in the hope of being cured of their illnesses!
These issues are just the tip of an iceberg, and typical of problems besetting many State hospitals in India and indeed in other parts of the world. Poor disposal practices, unsafe storage and treatment of hazardous wastes, environmental pollution, and scavenging of wastes that is the first step to organised and criminal resale and re-use of disposable medical equipment.
First posted 14 February 2008