BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE IN KERALA

Bio-medical waste is defined as waste that is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or
immunization of human beings and are contaminated with patients’ body fluids (such as
syringes, needles, ampoules, organs and body parts, placenta and microbiological wastes).
Hospitals, clinics, research centres and health care centres use wide variety of drugs including
antibiotics, radioactive substances, corrosive chemicals, which ultimately contribute in
biomedical waste.

Indian Medical Association, Kerala State Branch, established IMAGE (Indian Medical
Association Goes Eco-friendly), a state-of-the art Common Biomedical Waste Treatment and
Disposal Facility at Palakkad and it was commissioned on 14th December 2003. IMAGE was
conceived and launched to support healthcare providers to overcome the challenges posed by
the responsibilities laid down in the Biomedical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules
1998. IMAGE is an institution of excellence and is now renowned as "THE KERALA
MODEL" having catapulted God's Own Country ahead of other states in the field of
Biomedical Waste Management.

IMAGE affiliates all modern medicine health care institutions in both Private & Government
like Hospitals based on their bed strength, Clinics based on number of rooms & facilities,
Labs based on diagnostic facilities (Category A, B, C & D), Dental Clinics based on number
of Dental Chairs. A nominal non-refundable fee is being charged during affiliation. The
operating expense is being met by charging a nominal monthly fee as operational cost
declared for the category of HCI. The IMAGE plant has been working effectively from
January 2004 and has been rendering meritorious service to the State since its inception.

IMAGE provides the following services for the affiliated health care institutions.

 Training to the biomedical waste management staff of the affiliated institution for
scientific segregation and safe handling of biomedical waste.

 Facilitation for procurement of appropriate barcoded - colour coded bags and

containers for collection of segregated biomedical waste.

 Collection of segregated biomedical waste from the institutions from the designated
storage area.

 Transportation of the collected waste in closed vehicles authorised by the Pollution

Control Board.

 Treatment and Disposal of the biomedical waste in scientific manner at the IMAGE
plant, strictly adhering to the Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016.

 Maintain Records on the quantity of biomedical waste collected, transported, treated

and disposed.
  Provide necessary information to the health care institutions and the Pollution Control
Board as and when necessary on bio medical waste generated, collected and disposed
from the affiliated institutions.

 Create awareness among the public about the need for proper biomedical waste
management & treatment plants.

 Organise medical camps as part of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Biomedical Waste Collection

IMAGE provides comprehensive service to health care institutions by regular collection of

biomedical waste from health care facilities in barcoded & colour coded bags, transportation
in specially designed vehicles, treatment and final disposal in its Common Biomedical Waste
Treatment Facility (CBWTF) as per the Biomedical Waste Management Rules 2016, thereby
ensuring scientific disposal of infectious waste generated from health care facilities all over
Kerala, within 48 hours. Barcoded-Colour coded bags and containers are to be procured in
sufficient numbers by all affiliated HCIs for segregation and collection of waste at source.
Special training is imparted to hospital staff regarding segregation and collection

Transportation of Biomedical Waste

IMAGE runs 73 GPS installed covered vehicles for collection of biomedical waste within
24 hours from the whole length & breadth of Kerala, which are specially designed as per the
Biomedical Waste Management Rule and approved by the Pollution Control Board, which
ply a distance of 10,000 km per day. Each vehicle crew includes a driver, a sanitary worker
and a supervisor. Each vehicle collects biomedical waste daily and are taken to district
transfer stations, from there directly to the plant at Palakkad taking all safety measures.
All these vehicles are monitored through GPS Satellite Monitoring using AVL View
Software Application. The movement of waste collection vehicles are monitored through
GPS system and the waste collection is monitored through the mobile application system.
Introduction of Bar-coding system to monitor each and every bag from the source till the end
is going on and it will be completed within couple of months.

Biomedical waste treatment details

On an average, about 55.8 Tonnes of biomedical waste reaches the IMAGE plant daily, of
which 30.5 Tonnes are Incinerable waste (that collected in Yellow bags), 19 Tonnes
Autoclavable waste (that collected in Red bags), 5 Tonnes are Bottles, 0.7 Tonne is Sharps &
Metals, 0.6 Tonne is Dicarded medicines. This waste is collected from all 13,000+ healthcare
centres across the state of Kerala within 24 hours of its generation.
The quantity of biomedical waste handled by IMAGE

  DAILY MONTHLY YEARLY

AUTOCLAVABLE WASTE 19 Tonnes 570 Tonnes 6,840 Tonnes

INCINERABLE WASTE 30.5 Tonnes 915 Tonnes 10,980 Tonnes

BOTTLE WASTE 5 Tonnes 150 Tonnes 1,825 Tonnes

SHARPS & DISCARDED MED 1.3 Tonne 39 Tonnes 468 Tonnes

TOTAL 55.8 Tonnes 1674 Tonnes 20,088 Tonnes

WASTE MANAGEMENT RULES IN KERALA

SOLID WASTE - Solid Waste management Rules-2016

E-WASTE - E-waste management Rules-2016

PLASTIC WASTE- Plastic waste management Rules-2016

CONSTRUCTION -DEMOLITION WASTE Construction Demolition Waste Management

Rules-2016

BIO-MEDICAL WASTE - Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules-2016

HAZARDOUS AND OTHER WASTES - Hazardous and other waste management-2016