Waste dump yard near Sivaganga GH is proving to be a health hazard for patients

Garbage burning near Sivaganga hospital poses health risks, prompting calls for relocation by local authorities.

Garbage that has been dumped and is being burnt behind the Government Medical College Hospital in Sivaganga, is proving to be a health menace to the patients and the public residing nearby.  

The Sivaganga municipality is said to generate about 13.8 tonne of waste every day. Earlier, it was being dumped at a site near Sundaranadappu.  

Due to the opposition of the public and the residents living nearby, the dump yard was shifted to three locations – Maruthupandiya Nagar, Sunambu Kalavasal and the graveyard premises on Manamadurai-Madurai Road – in the district. 

Though it went well in the beginning, protests from the public forced them to stop.  Following this, the local body started dumping at a location near the bypass road leading to the medical college hospital from the new Manamadurai-Thanjavur National Highway, sources said.  

Sources said that as the waste disposal mechanisms available with the municipality were not efficient to clear off all the waste collected in a day, they resorted to burning it. 

“As it is the only rapid method available to dispose the waste collected from places around the municipality, the local body without minding the ill-effects it would cause to the environment and public, resort to such methods,” said a doctor of the hospital. 

As the hospital is located about 100 metres from the dumping area, the immediate victims are the patients who are being treated at the hospital, he added.