Guidelines issued for Covid vaccination waste

In Himachal Pradesh where two centres have been set up to install the Covid vaccination booth in Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital (IGMC), special instructions have been given to ensure that the biomedical waste is disposed of properly and not misused.

Shimla:With the coronavirus vaccination going on in the entire nation, we are faced with a copious amount of biowaste that needs to be disposed of in a responsible way.

In Himachal Pradesh where two centres have been set up to install the Covid vaccination booth in Indira Gandhi Medical College & Hospital (IGMC), special instructions have been given to ensure that the biomedical waste is disposed of properly and not misused.

Dr. Shad Rizvi, the Nodal Officer of Corona Vaccine at IGMC said that rules are already set for biomedical waste by the Pollution Board based on which the waste is being disposed of.

Talking about the vaccines, Dr Rizvi said that the vaccine that remains unused for the day is again frozen under 48 hours and the ones that are opened are use within four hours of breaking the seal.

Different garbage containers of various colours are used for throwing used syringes, cotton and gloves which are then cleansed with hypo solution and discarded.

In this regard, the vaccination officer Kalpana said that the hospital disposes of the biomedical waste responsibly. Even the syringe needle is burnt by a machine and then thrown into a box designed for special types of garbage.

Agreement with private company

In a Dental College, arrangements have been made to vaccinate 100 people every day. The biomedical waste like syringes, cotton, or vials are segregated in different coloured boxes and are handed over to an outsourced private company after applying a bar code.

The private company then discards them.

At the same time, the unused vaccine is returned to the IGMC," Principal of Dental College, Dr Ashu Gupta said.