Hospitals’ disposal of radioactive waste not safe

* Waste should be sent to PAEC, packed in lead drums
* Officials admit that hospitals dump radioactive waste into general hospital waste

By Abdul Manan

LAHORE: A number of hospitals that provide X-Ray services and radiotherapy facilities do not dispose of their radioactive waste materials according to the standards set by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and Environment Protection Department (EPD), posing a threat to the environment and to human health.

An official of the EPD said that countless hospitals, out of convenience, disposed of their liquid waste into open drains without treatment. He said that some hospitals with the radiotherapy facilities threw their radioactive waste into general waste disposal system.

He alleged that none of the hospitals sent its radioactive waste to the PAEC for proper disposal. He said that the EPD neither warned nor restricted the hospitals regarding their contribution to radioactive pollution.

PAEC: An official from the PAEC confirmed that the hospitals, in particular those of Lahore, did not send their radioactive waste to the PAEC. He said that cobalt 60, a radioactive waste product produced by radiotherapy, should be packed into lead drums and sent to the PAEC. He alleged that health care centres avoided sending waste there and dumped it into their general waste disposal system, adding that hospitals thus avoided the expenditure on lead packing. He said that radioactive waste continuously emitted radiation, which was hazardous to human health.

Dr Shamsuddin, a radiologist at a private hospital, said that all ionising radiation, including that of cobalt 60, was known to cause cancer. He said that frequent exposure to gamma radiation from cobalt 60 increased the risk of cancer. However, he said that the magnitude of the health risk depended on the quantity of cobalt 60 involved and on exposure conditions.

Shalimar Hospital’s Waste Management Director Junaid Habibullah said that about 120 hospitals incinerated their hazardous wastes at his incinerators. He admitted to not being able to incinerate the radioactive waste of all hospitals with radiotherapy treatment plants. He said that the waste should be sent to the PAEC site in lead drums. He said that radioactive waste containing metals, when incinerated, emitted radioactive pollution into the atmosphere.

He said that radiation, once released into the environment, could remain in the atmosphere for decades or centuries, increasing the likelihood of human exposure.

Zaman Khan, an official at Shaukat Khanum Hospital, said that the hospital’s radioactive waste was packed into drums and was thrown into landfills outside the city. He said that wastewater was often disposed of outside the city.

The general manager of the waste management department of Prime Hospital said that no hospital in the city had a water treatment plant for the disposal of liquid waste. He said that the hospital’s radiologists were aware of their responsibility to dispose of liquid waste.

Muhammad Fayyaz, an owner of the private hospital, said that he had sold liquid waste to traders and poured the rest into the drains. He said that his first priority was to save human health; the disposal of waste was a secondary issue.

Dumping into general waste: Officials admitted that all government hospitals that have radiotherapy treatment plants, threw their radioactive waste into the general waste; they requested that their names not be revealed.

Arshad Raza, a chemist at GCU, said that metals that had a relatively high density were poisonous in low concentrations. He said that metals like mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), thallium (Tl), and lead (Pb) were highly toxic. He added that these metals could not be destroyed. He said that they could enter our bodies via food, drinking water, and through the air. He said, “Although metals like copper, selenium and zinc are essential for maintaining the metabolism of the human body, in higher concentrations they can lead to poisoning.”

Zafar Hussain, an environmentalist at a private university, said, “There are three metal pollutants – lead, cadmium, and mercury – which affect the environment.” He said that cadmium affected the environment because of its chemical similarity to zinc, an essential micronutrient for plants, animals and humans. He said that if cadmium is absorbed by an organism, it could exist for many years (decades for humans) although it is eventually excreted.

Dr Khalil of Mayo Hospital said that high exposure to metals like cadmium and mercury led to lung diseases and high blood pressure.

He said that severe effects of exposure included reduced growth and development, cancer, organ damage, nervous system damage, and even death.

He said that the young were more prone to the toxic effects of metals. He said that if a child had been exposed to these metals, he or she could develop learning difficulties, and suffer from memory impairment and behavioural problems such as aggression and hyperactivity. “In higher doses, these metals can cause irreversible brain damage,” he added.

EPD Secretary Shahnawaz Badar said it was the EPD’s responsibility to force hospitals to dispose of their liquid waste that contained toxic metals, after tests such as the Bio Oxygen Demand and Chemical Oxygen Demand tests.

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