Nagpur: The information regarding collection of bio-medical waste in Nagpur, sought under Right to Information Act (RTI), makes a shocking revelation. In the last four years, 2021 witnessed the least collection of bio-medical waste, despite it being the worst year in the coronavirus pandemic.
The Superb Hygiene Company has been collecting bio-medical waste from Nagpur hospitals for a long time. While replying to RTI activist Abhay Kolarkar, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) provided all the details of collection of bio-medical waste. The information of bio-medical collection of the last four years–2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 was sought.
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02 June 2025
The civic body, in reply, says that in2019 the collection was 1,417.504 metric tonne, in 2020 it rose to 1,509.262 metric tonne. Surprisingly, it went down to 1,350.035 metric tonnes in 2021. NMC provided information on bio-medical waste collection from January to April for2022 where the count stood at 555.512 metric tonnes. If the present average continues, at the end of 2022 the count may reach 1,500 which will be quite better than the collection of 2021.
All over India, 2021 was the worst as far as the coronavirus pandemic is concerned because of the second wave. The wave started in mid-February and ended around May. During the second wave, this tiny dreaded virus claimed thousands of lives, several got infected, and there were more than 10,000 active cases in Nagpur. No exact account is available about the bed occupancy, but the situation was such that availability of bed was zero. From small hospitals to corporate ones, every hospital was full of patients.
The Superb Hygienic Company collects bio-medical waste from 646 hospitals, 1,010 clinics and 294 pathology laboratories. This is a huge number. Everybody expected more collection of bio-medical waste during pandemic. If such was the situation then why bio-medical waste collection had gone down is the question.
According to Dr Mahalle, Health Officer with NMC, after the direction from health authorities, certain items were excluded from bio-medical waste in 2021 because of which the quantity got reduced.
