(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: Biomedical Waste Management During Covid Pandemic

Topic: Biomedical Waste Management During Covid Pandemic

Guest:

Dr. Sanjeev Agrawal, (Former Additional Director, Central Pollution Control Board - CPCB)
Chandra Bhushan, (CEO, International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology - iFOREST)

Topic Description:

The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has posed numerous challenges before India on multiple fronts –health, economy and also the environment. On the show today, we will talk about one such impact of the Covid outbreak on our environment – and that is the exponential increase in biomedical waste. Data suggests the average quantity of COVID-19 related biomedical waste generation during May, 2021- the ongoing month- is about 203 Tonnes Per Day. The peak generation of about 250 Tonnes Per Day was reported on May 10th. The earlier peak generation in the year 2020 was in the range of 180 – 220 Tonnes Per Day. Now all of us know that biomedical waste poses various health and environmental hazards, and this is the wider challenge that the pandemic has posed before us. While there are guidelines to handle medical waste with utmost care and disposed them off safely, the exponential rise in the quantity of biomedical waste due to the pandemic has made the task very challenging and difficult.