The Kolkata Municipal Corporation is considering plans to set up its own medical waste treatment plant for proper disposal of such wastes.

According to KMC mayor Firhad Hakim, there is a mammoth quantity of 193 kg medical waste generated per day, under the health department of the civic body.

The medical waste is collected in plastic bags of different colours and is disposed of by private agencies. The disposal of this waste is done by government approved agencies for which some fees are also to be paid.

The agency also collects the medical waste generated at urban primary health centres of the KMC. “Since the agencies are private concerns and there are complaints raised about proper disposal of medical wastes, I have instructed for setting up our own medical treatment plant,” informed Hakim.

The matter was highlighted in response to a query by councillor Biswarup Dey during the monthly meeting at KMC.

Dey had asked about how much medical waste is collected by the KMC and what is it worth or whether there is some mechanism of separating the general solid waste from the medical waste and recycling of the same.