A low-cost ingenious solution by a government doctor could get rid of liquid bio-medical waste in hospitals. Dubbed automated portable effluent treatment system (APETS), it can treat liquid waste, log data and automatically flush water – all this at one-tenth the cost of a conventional system.
“When liquid hospital waste goes untreated, it increases the risk of cholera, typhoid, plague, Hepatitis B, diphtheria, besides ground water contamination. As per norms, the waste needs to be treated before being flushed,” said Dr Yogesh Kaurav.
Dr Kaurav was posted in primary health centre (PSC), Misrod when he invented the system with the help of techie, Kandarp Chaurasia and data analyst Samanvay Chaturvedi.
In the past year, multiple models have been upgraded and tested at the PHC. Government is hard pressed for time to adhere to segregation and handling of solid bio-medical waste as per National Green Tribunal (NGT) guidelines. Only a fraction of hospitals adheres to the rules on handling, treatment and disposal of liquid biomedical waste. The liquid waste in sewage pollutes groundwater and even drinking water. Biomedical Waste Management and Handling Rule 2016, suggests that liquid pathological and chemical waste should be properly treated before being discharged into public sewer system. Segregation of liquid waste at source and ensure pre-treatment or neutralization and disposal of liquid waste in accordance with the Water (Prevention and Control Pollution) Act, 1974 (6 of 1974). Rules are applied to all hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, dispensaries, veterinary institutions, animal houses pathological laboratories, blood banks among others. Currently, the APETS system requires a large space.
To integrate the treatment plants would have to spend about Rs 50 lakh, said Dr Kaurav. They are also not suitable for low resource clinical settings. Unable of logging and updating of required data. Our solution accounts for biological and chemical oxygen demand. Besides, the system is being reviewed by leading experts and organisations.
It is not entirely clear exactly what this device is achieving. At a guess, and the low resolution graphic makes guesswork necessary at this stage, this is a disinfection, filtration, discharge system. It is probably sufficient, at least in that it might improve on existing fluid management approaches.
We will look for and look forward to further details and will post any information here on the Clinical Waste Discussion Forum.