How safe is the disposal of biomedical waste generated at quarantine centres?

ETV Bharat Assam on Thursday had run an exclusive story showing a person (suspected to be mentally unstable) wearing a PPE kit inside a garbage bin located at Lokhra area in the city, exposing him to infection. This has raised serious doubts regarding the disposal of biomedical waste generated by quarantine centres in the state.

Guwahati: The recent recovery of some PPE kits from a garbage bin in Guwahati have raised serious doubts regarding the disposal of biomedical waste generated by quarantine centres in the state.

ETV Bharat Assam on Thursday had run an exclusive story showing a person (suspected to be mentally unstable) wearing a PPE kit inside a garbage bin located at Lokhra area in the city, exposing him to infection. The garbage bin was located within a one-kilometre radius of a quarantine centre. Locals said that there were about seven such used PPE kits in the garbage bins.

On Saturday morning also, some PPE kits were found dumped on the roadside at Lakhtokia area in the city, drawing flakes from the locals. They informed the police immediately about the incident and it was later burnt.

"An agency has been engaged in for the disposal of biomedical waste. The agency, Air Force is certified by the Pollution Control board. They follow all the protocols while disposing of the biomedical waste," said Biswajit Pegu, Deputy Commissioner of Kamrup Metro district.

However, the statement made by the Kamrup deputy Commissioner has failed to convince the people about the way the biomedical waste from the quarantine centres is disposed of.

Locals said that the person who wore the used PPE kit which he got from the garbage bin at Lokhra roamed the city streets, probably infecting many others.

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