RAWALPINDI, Aug 9: The Punjab Environment Protection Agency (Punjab-EPA) on Thursday issued notices to owners of five private hospitals and clinics for improper disposal of hospital waste causing serious environmental pollution and health hazards.

The environment agency also directed the owners of these health centres to immediately stop the practice and submit Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports to the agency within 30 days. The private health centres are: Ijaz Clinic, Aziz Bhatti Road; Shan Medical Care, Mamoon Jee Road; Shifa Clinic, Kahuta, Nayyar Medical Centre, Peshawar Road and Shafqat Medical Centre, Kahuta.

“We conducted a survey in Ramazan and found that majority of the private and public hospitals had not adopted proper procedure to dispose of their waste. Some of the private clinics dumped infectious waste in solid waste instead of sending them to the incinerator at Holy Family Hospital or Morgah,” said Shaukat Hayat, the district officer environment while talking to Dawn. He said the agency had already served notices on the managements of 56 hospitals in the city, both private and public, for creating health hazards. .—A Reporter