Kerala officials inspect medical waste dumped near Tirunelveli

Kerala officials inspect medical waste dumped at Nadukallur in Tirunelveli district. Photo: Special arrangement

Kerala officials inspected sites in Nadukallur and Kodaganallur near Tirunelveli, where medical waste from Kerala was dumped.

The issue of dumping of biomedical waste into water bodies in Nadukallur and Kodaganallur created widespread outrage in Tamil Nadu. After that, officials from various departments including the Revenue Department, Rural Development Department and others conducted an on-site inspection.

After that, officials collected syringes, blood samples and documents from medical waste dumped at Nadukallur and three other places. These were identified as wastes from the Thiruvananthapuram Regional Cancer Center and a private hospital in the capital city of Kerala. The material collected was submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) bench in Chennai.

Following the NGT’s directive, a 10-member team from the Kerala government, including representatives of the Kerala Pollution Control Board, the Kerala Health Department and the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, inspected the sites near Tirunelveli. They also collected samples from the discarded garbage.

Kerala government officials said that the report will be submitted to the government and further action will be taken based on the findings.