Covid-19: Sanitation workers at risk from discarded medical waste

Team Udayavani, Apr 10, 2020, 2:29 PM IST

Sanitation workers are now at a risk due to the medical waste emerging from hospitals and homes where COVID-19 patients are kept. Dealing with all the garbage society produces is a dirty and dangerous job even in normal times, but during a global health pandemic, it gets even riskier

Discarded masks, gloves and tissues could be potential sources for the spread of this highly contagious virus.
Central pollution board has released a set of guidelines on handling and disposal of such waste.

According to which,
Isolation wards in hospitals must maintain separate colour-coded bins for the segregation of waste.

Separate bin, labelled ‘COVID-19’, must be kept in storage room and should only be handled by authorised staff.

The board also recommended to deploy separate sanitation workers in such wards and the quarantined houses must discard waste in yellow bags and bins which will be handed over to authorised collectors.

If the guidelines aren’t followed by all then the lives of sanitation workers will be at risk and the whole of India will have to face the consequences.