Meghalaya: CAG Exposes Meghalaya’s Bio-Medical Waste Crisis; Public Health at Risk

SHILLONG: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, or CAG, has now raised the red flag in Meghalaya with very discouraging deficiencies in bio-medical waste management. According to this report, most of the ULBs and Town Committees, except the Shillong Municipal Board, of the state have been critically unprepared to handle the waste effectively. This has been the negligence at the level of the state to establish such facilities as Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment and Disposal Facilities, as required by the Bio-Medical Waste Rules, 2016, due to which biomedical waste would not be disposed of appropriately and may be highly hazardous. This is a failure that is bound to create public health hazards and environmental hazards.

The fact is then highlighted in the CAG report regarding the dire condition of bio-medical waste generated continuously in towns like Tura without any proper mechanism for treatment but deep burial at Rongkhon Songittal or any local dumpsite. All the more unseemly, a JPV of Rongkhon Songittal has observed open dumping of hazardous medical waste like syringes and ampoules without following proper safety procedures or protocols.

Similarly, the hospitals are left to their fate with regard to disposal of waste in Jowai and Nongpoh as the local bodies, the Jowai Municipal Board and the Nongpoh Town Committee, have failed to collect the waste. This indicates a systemic flaw in the waste management apparatus in the State.

Despite substantial generation of bio-medical waste within the state, starting from 2017 through 2020, it is still seen to grapple with improvement in its processes for the treatment of such wastes. Though, as CAG's report points out, the use of Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facilities has increased from 37 percent to 76 percent in these years, captive treatment at healthcare facilities dropped from 63 percent to a mere 24 percent. This implies that there is now an increasing dependence on shared facilities, which also face serious shortage and mismanagement issues of their own, thereby aggravating the problem.

Speaking on a somewhat positive note, the report mentions that there has been a gradual decline in the numbers regarding health facilities operating without due authorizations under the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, from 2017 to 2020. But this minor progress is again taken over by the greater evidence of overall mismanagement.

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