Madurai: Large piles of waste have been gathering in and around the premises of Govt Rajaji Hospital in Madurai as waste collection has been paused for around a week.
A doctor said, “The presence of unmanaged solid waste compromises basic clinical safety and exposes vulnerable patients to secondary infections. People living around the hospital said waste around the facility has also not been cleared for the past few days. A senior corporation official said sanitation workers were shifting from tractors to heavy vehicles in the area, leading to a delay in waste collection. The waste dumped by the trauma centre has already been cleared and the remaining garbage will be removed soon,” the official said.
The waste is piling up near the hospital’s mortuary, the back entrance and parking areas. The situation worsened after recent heavy rainfall, which unleashed blobs of slushy, pungent waste and contaminated runoff from the piles on the premises. Doctors, healthcare workers and patients are forced to navigate unsanitary conditions to reach treatment facilities. Maintenance staff tried to accumulate debris into designated corners, but the sheer volume of daily waste continues to overwhelm available storage areas. Corporation must act quickly. Waste piled up near the car parking area in the hospital has forced doctors to park their vehicles on the roads around the hospital, leading to traffic congestion on these stretches. “There was a change in the schedule that led to the waste in and around the hospital going uncollected for a few days.