Hospitals

When we talk of garbage not being disposed off well, we do not think about garbage other than the regular kitchen waste and plastic. One major type of waste that we hardly talk about is radioactive waste, produced at cancer hospitals. While our kitchen waste may not be so harmful, radioactive waste can be hazardous. On a casual inquiry, I found out that the cancer hospitals in Bengaluru were apparently disposing residual radioactive waste into the public sewerage and garbage. This sounds alarming, but this is what they are supposed when the radioactive material (used for treatment) is 'fully used'.…

It was late on November 3rd afternoon when five men worked by the side of a lonely stretch of road in the as yet un-named land between Anjanapura and Kanakapura Road. The barefooted men silently hoed and shovelled the last dregs of a waste heap, shoving the plastic and other indistinct matter into a truck parked nearby, where one of the men stood next to the waste. This is near Avalahalli, about 2.5 kms east of Kanakapura Road. Stray dogs feasted on the roadside dump which had untreated biomedical waste mixed with kitchen waste. Pic: Angela Jain. At first glance,…

Sunita (assumed name *) was in the hospital for a long time. Diagnosed with cancer, she had undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy. As a result, her immune system was severely stressed. A few weeks later, she developed an open chest wound that had to be operated upon. Soon after, her doctor noticed a stubborn bacterial infection that just would not go away, no matter what antibiotics they prescribed. The doctor conducted a few tests and found that Sunita was infected with Methycillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, a fatal drug-resistant bacterium that thrives in hospital wards all over the world (www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735).…