Source of Illegally Dumped Biomedical Waste Appears To Be Pondicherry’s MGPGI

In May 2011, I reported the illegal, large-scale dumping and burning of biomedical waste at Pondicherry’s truck terminal. In September 2011, Health Care Without Harm published Medical Waste and Human Rights, a report prepared for the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur, which mentioned illegal biomedical waste disposal in Pondicherry and included my photos of waste dumped at the truck terminal.  That same month, India’s Comptroller and Auditor General released a report that criticized Pondicherry’s Pollution Control Committee, which is supposed to function as Pondicherry’s environmental protection agency, for failing to bring biomedical waste management into compliance with the government’s guidelines.

The illegal dumping of biomedical waste at Pondicherry’s truck terminal continues. The following photos, taken on 22 December 2012, show waste that evidently comes from the Puducherry Government’s Mahatma Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences (MGPGI).

Biomedical waste at Pondicherry’s truck terminal, 22 December 2012

Biomedical waste from Pondicherry’s MGPGI at Pondicherry’s truck terminal

Illegally dumped biomedical waste from the MGPGI at Pondicherry’s truck terminal