Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Apr 29, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Apr 29, 2003 |
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Industry & Economy
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Environment Medical waste is big business in AP Our Bureau
HYDERABAD, April 28 HOSPITAL trash - such as used syringes and scalpel blades, discarded chemicals, bandage cloth, plastics, surgical material etc - have become a challenge to dispose of. In the major cities where healthcare facilities, especially those promoted by corporate hospitals, are growing fast, hospital trash poses as a big problem. Unlike domestic garbage, medical wastes can be lethal unless effectively handled and disposed of, as it may contain harmful organisms and disease-causing agents. In the past few years, following the Supreme Court directives and the notification on bio-medical waste management issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), around 35-40 facilities for converting the wastes generated by hospitals, nursing homes and clinics have been set up by nearly two dozen companies in the country. The Hyderabad-based Medicare Incin Pvt Ltd, part of the Ramky Engineers Group, has established a network of medical waste treatment and disposal units in eight locations in the country, sensing both a business opportunity and a societal responsibility, said Mr Goutham Reddy, its Director. Today the company has five operating facilities in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ludhiana, Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Three more are coming up in Chennai, New Delhi and Kolkata. Each facility calls for a capital investment of Rs 1.3 crore. "We use both the incinerator and autoclave type plants," he told Business Line. Though we are the biggest player in this sector and started the first plant in Hyderabad in March 2000, unless collection and volumes increase with greater compliance by hospitals and individual clinics, the economics of the venture will remain unfavourable to promoters like us, Mr Reddy said. While a majority of the 450 healthcare establishments in Hyderabad are complying with the Ministry's notification, a sizeable number of the nearly 4,000 clinics are yet to fall in line. To break even in this business, the company has to serve 15,000 beds at a rate of Rs 2.50 per bed. At present, Medicare Incin has 60 per cent of the market share in Hyderabad. On the mode of operations, Mr Reddy said the company provides two colour-coded bags to the healthcare centre. About 30 trained staff travel a distance of 700 km daily to collect the wastes filled in these bags. It is then brought to the plant, where it is fully treated. The residual waste is finally buried in the landfill, separately created by Ramky Enviro on the outskirts of the city. While steam is used in autoclaves to disinfect the wastes at temperatures of 120 degrees C for up to 90 minutes, in incinerators, the medical wastes, especially infectious and pathological types are converted to harmless mineral residues and gases, again at high temperature and combustion.
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