Warning 8211; This needle prick may be lethal

In the FIR, lodged by PMC health inspector Waman Raghunath Tade, it is stated that Dighe and Dhangar had not ensured proper disposal of hospital waste despite being aware that this was hazardous for public health. The IPC sections dealing with such acts will apply in this case, DCP Ajit Patil said.

But Dhangar8217;s statement recorded by the police is rather interesting. In his statement, Dhangar alleges that the hospital waste was sold to him by the administrator for Rs 100. He used to be given receipts for the waste he bought copies of the receipts are available with this newspaper.

Dhangar states he was unaware that selling hospital waste was illegal. He would go and sell it to scrap dealers Balu Bhima Alkute and Bandinawaz Sophikhan Makka who had their shops at Golandaj Chowk in the Wadarwadi slums.

Following this lead, the police detained the two scrap dealers from the area and brought them in for questioning. Both claimed that the waste which they bought from Dhangar was sold to big scrap dealers in the city.

Inspector in-charge of Deccan Gymkhana police station, Ram Kondhalkar admitted that the interrogations of Dhangar and the other two scrap dealers have revealed that hospital waste was being recycled.

Alkute and Makka claimed in their statements, that Guruwar Peth wholesale dealers would later send the used saline sets, bottles and syringes to even bigger dealers operating from Mumbai.

Giving a new twist on to the case, Dhangar8217;s relatives and corporator from Wadarwadi area, Mukari Algute, claimed that the hospital authorities were selling the used saline sets, bottles and syringes to Dhangar as scrap regularly.

8220;The civic body is doing injustice to Dhangar by treating him like a criminal. How does he become party to a crime if he was just purchasing the scrap from the hospital and selling it off to scrap dealers? I am going to rake up the PMC8217;s general body over the issue,8221; Algute said.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Medical Foundation, which runs the Joshi Hospital, on Thursday claimed that 8220;the practice of destroying disposable syringes and needles has been in vogue since long. The nursing and para nursing staff ward boys, Ayas have been trained and strictly warned to follow the procedures for the disposal of the used material. Notices to this effect have been displayed in each ward.8221; An MMF statement said that 8220;the concerned employee Dhangar has been suspended pending inquiry. The material recovered from him may not necessarily belong exclusively to the MMF hospitals.8221;