Unsanitary morgue: Sion Hospital sent show-cause notice

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has served a show-cause notice to the civic-run Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital, seeking an explanation for the sorry state of its morgue, which has been functioning with a faulty drainage system since September 12.

The Asian Age had, on September 15, reported on bio-medical waste leaking out of the hospital’s morgue due to choked pipes. Later, a MPCB field officer visited the site to examine the alleged irregularities.

The MPCB notice said that a field officer had visited the site and submitted an investigation report that highlighted the discrepancies that were observed during the visit. “The Healthcare Establishment (HCE) was operating without obtaining valid authorisation from the MPCB,” the report reads.

MPCB field officer Sanjay Bhosale said, “The hospital lacks an effluent treatment plant (ETP) and sewage treatment plant (STP) for the treatment of domestic sewage generated from hospital, pathology laboratory and blood bank. The hospital has not submitted a bank guarantee of '5,25,000, in favour of the regional office, Mumbai as per authorisation.”

Blood that has oozed out of corpses was found to have leaked on to the footpath outside the morgue, exposing pedestrians to harmful bacteria, as reported by The Asian Age on September 14.

Mr Bhosale said, “After the news (of the blood leakage) reached us, we personally went to the spot and inspected it completely.”

A hospital generates various kinds of waste from its morgue such as bandages, cotton, soiled linen, body parts and sharp objects such as needles, syringes and scalpels. All these have a strong potential to carry infections and should be properly discarded to prevent contamination and infection from spreading.

If a hospital is found violating the provisions of these rules, the MPCB can file a complaint under Section 15 of the EP Act.