Illegal disposal of waste from Kerala hospitals in Tirunelveli raised serious environmental and public health concerns. (image/unsplash)
Chennai: Four individuals were arrested in connection with the illegal dumping of biomedical waste in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. The waste, including blood samples and hazardous materials, was being removed following a directive from the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which had ordered its removal within three days.
Eight trucks from Kerala with Thiruvananthapuram assistant district collector and other officials arrived to clear the waste from Kodaganallur and Palavoor villages in Tirunelveli district, according to reports.
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Medical documents from the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), a state-owned cancer care hospital and research centre in Thiruvananthapuram, were found along with biomedical waste. Documents included patient ID and their details, including name and signature. The matter raised concerns about medical data privacy as well.
Some documents were also found belonging to Credence Hospital & IVF Centre, a private firm, including doctors’ leave applications, internal details about the doctor’s hospital code, the date and nature of leaves taken, among others.
The illegal disposal of waste from Kerala hospitals in five villages of Tirunelveli raised serious environmental and public health concerns. The waste poses risks such as the spread of infectious diseases and contamination of soil and water sources.
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BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit President L Annamalai threatened to organise trucks to take the waste back to Kerala if the ruling DMK government failed to take immediate action.
The state government argued that the incident was a recurring issue, emphasising incidents in Anamalai and Nanguneri. The DMK government stated that both times, the government has removed the waste but decided not to clear it this time, citing the Kerala government’s pending dues of Rs 69,000 mandated by an earlier bench of NGT.
The waste prompted questions about whether these hospitals had proper systems for safe disposal. The removal operation, which began on Sunday, will continue with officials from both Tamil Nadu and Kerala overseeing the process.
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Earlier in November, nearly six trucks from Kerala entered Karnataka carrying animal, plastic, and biomedical waste, which were intercepted at the Bandipur Moolehole check post.
For the past several years, there have been several complaints from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka about the increasing amount of waste crossing the border from Kerala, creating environmental concerns in the neighbouring states.
In 2023, the NGT took suo motu cognisance after ten tonnes of plastic, medical, and domestic waste from Kerala were dumped at multiple locations near Nanguneri on October 7. Such dumping has occurred in border villages like Pudupatti, Panayamkurichi, and Kuruvankottai in Tenkasi district as well, according to the News Laundry.
