The High Court is set to hear a rule issued in 2018 over medical waste management, including a petition seeking directions for hospitals and healthcare facilities to establish their own or centralised waste treatment plants.
The hearing will take place before a bench comprising Justice Md Khasruzzaman and Justice Mubina Asaf.
Syed Mahidul Kabir, counsel for the petitioner, told TIMES on Tuesday that the court had scheduled the rule for hearing on Monday. The matter will be heard once it appears on the court’s cause list.
The writ petition followed a report published in an English daily on 4 February 2018, under the headline “Hazardous waste heaped in open bins”.
The report highlighted the environmental and public health risks of dumping medical waste in open spaces.
Following the publication, journalist Ahmed Al Amin, a graduate of Jahangirnagar University, sent legal notices to the relevant authorities on 14 February 2018, seeking necessary action.
After receiving no response, he filed a public interest writ petition with the relevant section of the High Court on 19 March that year.
The writ petition named the secretaries of the ministries of environment, forest and climate change, health, and home affairs as respondents.
The director generals of the Department of Environment and Directorate General of Health Services, the deputy director of the Department of Environment’s Chattogram region, and the secretary general of the Bangladesh Private Clinic and Diagnostic Owners Association were also made respondents.
On 8 April 2018, a High Court bench comprising Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal issued a rule along with an interim order following the initial hearing.
The rule asked why hospitals, diagnostic centres and other healthcare facilities should not be directed to establish separate or centralised effluent treatment plants (ETPs) for the disposal and recycling of medical waste.
The court also sought to know why the authorities should not be directed to take necessary measures to protect the environment, public health and nature during the disposal, recycling and transportation of medical waste.
The petition alleged that medical waste was being dumped in open spaces outside hospitals and clinics in different parts of Chattogram, while most healthcare facilities were operating without environmental clearance.
It said the situation reflected the wider state of medical waste management across the country.
The petitioner also alleged that the Environment Conservation Act and the Medical Waste Management Rules, 2008, were not being properly implemented.
According to the petition, hospital waste was being mixed with household waste, causing environmental pollution. Many large hospitals and private clinics also lacked waste treatment plants, posing serious risks to the environment and public health.
Recently, the petitioner took steps to bring the rule up for hearing before the High Court bench led by Justice Md Khasruzzaman.
