CHANDIGARH: Raising suspicion over waste management at PGIs emergency ward, on Sunday it was witnessed that syringes being used on patients are not being destroyed by nurses and doctors, rather they are thrown in an open box which the ward boys keep at one of the out-gates of the emergency.
A pile of hundreds of syringes and unbroken needles was witnessed in a corner of a hall, unmanned. A sanitary worker informed that the man assigned to take care of them was on leave. MHA on duty, Ravinder Ahlawat, informed that due to patient rush in the emergency, syringes are not destroyed by nurses and a staff is deputed to take care of them. When informed that no one was present, he curtly replied that he would look into the matter.
Stating that workers are at risk to catch infection due to unsafe practice, Sompal, supervisor in the sanitation department, said it was the duty of nurses and doctors to destroy these syringes.
Amit Jolly, a resident of Sector 21 in Panchkula, who was attending a patient, said, I have a strong feeling that these might be reused or misused by unscrupulous people.”
This utter negligence was witnessed even when a latest report by Indian Clinical Epidemiology Network (IndiaCLEN), an agency serving in the health sector in India, states that almost two-third of the injections given in India are unsafe in government sector.
Doctors say that injuries due to syringes and other hospital material, especially among hospital workers, increase the incidence of Hepatitis B, C, E and HIV among these groups. They added that the common man is still not aware of potential risk of unsafe injections.
The faculty associations of PGI Chandigarh and AIIMS are waiting for revision of their pay package under the 6th Pay Commission that has been implemented for other categories of government employees. Their proposal is still pending with the government. The associations on Sunday appealed to the Union government to restructure their salary structure and allowances as per their qualifications, merit, experience, responsibilities and actual work load.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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