Port Blair May 11: Amid growing concerns over biomedical waste handling and environmental safety, the Andaman & Nicobar Pollution Control Committee (ANPCC) has issued a stern advisory directing all government and private healthcare facilities across the Islands to strictly comply with Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules and mandatory pollution control regulations. Flagging gaps in compliance among several healthcare institutions, the ANPCC warned that hospitals, clinics and other healthcare facilities must urgently regularize mandatory environmental clearances, waste disposal systems and pollution control mechanisms to avoid violations under national environmental laws.
In its latest advisory, the Committee stated that every healthcare facility generating biomedical waste is legally required to obtain authorization for the generation, handling, treatment, processing and disposal of such waste under the Bio-Medical Waste Management (BMWM) Rules, 2016. Healthcare institutions have also been directed to secure mandatory Consent to Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO) approvals under the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981 through the ANPCC’s Online Consent Management and Monitoring System (OCMMS).
The ANPCC observed that several healthcare facilities operating in the Islands need to strengthen adherence to statutory norms relating to biomedical waste management and pollution control practices. The advisory further highlighted the revised pollution categorisation norms issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), under which healthcare facilities are classified into Red, Orange, Green and White categories based on their pollution load and bed strength. Hospitals with more than 500 beds fall under the highly polluting Red category, while smaller facilities are classified under Orange or Green categories.
In a major compliance directive, the Committee stated that all healthcare facilities with more than 10 beds must install Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) to treat wastewater before discharge. Hospitals operating captive incinerators have also been instructed to install Online Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (OCEMS) for real-time monitoring and transmission of emission data to CPCB servers.
Recognising the geographical challenges of remote islands, the ANPCC said healthcare facilities in isolated and far-flung areas may adopt the deep burial method for disposal of yellow-category biomedical waste, provided the system is developed strictly as per standards prescribed under the BMWM Rules, 2016.
The advisory also laid down discharge standards and waste treatment norms for both bedded and non-bedded healthcare facilities, including protocols for handling infectious liquid waste. Reiterating the seriousness of the issue, the ANPCC has urged all healthcare establishments in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to ensure strict compliance with biomedical waste management and environmental protection laws to safeguard public health and ecological safety.
