A 47-year-old engineer named Partha Pathak from Guwahati establishes Assam’s first biomedical waste plant.
About Engineer Partha Pathak:
The 47-year-old engineer quitted his job at a Mumbai-based oil sector company in 2003 to focus on the issue of biomedical waste in his home state.
Pathak on establishment of the plant:
While speaking to a media house Pathak said, “Being located at a higher geographical altitude, the city’s (Guwahati) waste disposal system was not at par with other low-lying metro cities like Mumbai…With my experiences and observations from living in a metro city, I anticipated that my hometown would grow in the coming years and require an efficient waste management system. I began working on it, but kept the focus on the biomedical waste.”
Pathak started Fresh Air Waste Management Services Pvt Ltd. that offers a common system of setting up an incinerator in 2009.
He further added, “It was an entirely new concept, and I found it challenging to procure loans. There was no proven or existing model to present to the bank. A service to dispose of the waste came as a surprise to the bank officials.”
Partha said that there were no rules for biomedical waste management previously. “The waste was disposed of crudely, and there was no robust system to address the biomedical waste specifically. I compiled the report with my observations. But instead of treating it as one-off project work, I dived deeper into the work,” he says.
Partha also mentioned that he visited the hospital multiple times to observe and gather data. “As biomedical waste was a major issue, I studied it in detail and the challenges faced in addressing and its disposal. There was no heavy waste load during those days but it required better management. The private hospital was doing a commendable job with it despite no government rules in place,” he added.
At present his firm caters to multiple hospitals and treats around 2,000 kg of waste.
About Biomedical waste plant:
Biomedical waste is generated from biological and medical sources and activities, such as the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of diseases. Medical facilities generate waste hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials. While such wastes are normally not infectious, they require proper disposal.
Common generators of biomedical waste include hospitals, health clinics, nursing homes, emergency medical services, medical research laboratories, offices of physicians, dentists, veterinarians, home health care and morgues or funeral homes. In healthcare facilities which are hospitals, clinics, doctor’s offices, veterinary hospitals and clinical laboratories, waste with these characteristics may alternatively be called medical or clinical waste.
Biomedical waste is distinct from normal trash or general waste, and differs from other types of hazardous waste, such as chemical, radioactive, universal or industrial waste. Medical facilities generate waste hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials. While such wastes are normally not infectious, they require proper disposal. Some wastes are considered multi hazardous, such as tissue samples preserved in formalin.
