Mayor Atiqul slams hospitals for ‘overpriced’ treatment, poor waste management

Atiqul shed light on the unregulated disposal of medical wastes in a meeting over the safe management of medical wastes, chaired by Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh at the Secretariat on Thursday.

He warned that authorities would take steps against those who neglect its proper disposal.

“The way hospitals rob the people, it’s almost like robbery. They are taking money. We have to pay even before getting admitted to the hospital. People are having to sell their lands to pay off hospital bills,” Atiqul alleged.

“Many hospitals are offering extremely expensive treatments. The fees for different medical checkups are too high. The fees they charge for tests and the hospital bills are no less than robbery. This cannot go on.”

“Are they disposing of their waste properly? No, they are not, and this is not being monitored.”

“I’ve seen this myself. I have photos of clinics and hospitals throwing urine, blood and stool samples all over the road after treatment. This is so unfortunate,” he said.

“So we need to send them a clear message to them: throwing wastes on the streets is out of the question.”

The mayor pointed out that setting a deadline for the hospitals to begin discarding the garbage in designated places appeared to be the only way to put a leash on this transgression.

Atiqul said: “I’ve seen the wastes being burnt in open places behind government hospitals, which is also detrimental to the environment. If government hospitals resort to this, I’d rather not talk about other hospitals.”

The DNCC mayor sent out a warning against illegal activities, such as obstructing roads with piles of rods, cement and sand.