RIMS make do sans Effluent Treatment Plant
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, April 22 2025: RIMS Imphal currently has no functional Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP), but the institute has been treating its effluent using chemicals to protect the environment and avoid health hazards, said the hospital's Medical Superintendent, Professor Sanjib Nepram.

He said this during a surprise inspection carried out by officials of the Manipur Pollution Control Board (MPCB) .

The MPCB team led by Member Secretary Dr W Roshan included Environmental Engineer M Bangajit and Informative Officer Laishram Homenjoy Singh.

The team was accompanied by journalists.

The inspection came days after this paper exposed unethical biomedical waste disposal at JNIMS Hospital, Porompat.

RIMS make do sans Effluent Treatment Plant

At RIMS, the MPCB team inspected various wards and bio-medical waste disposal sites, accompanied by the hospital's Medical Superintendent Sanjib Nepram, and CRED vice president M Hemchandra.

CRED manages the hospital's waste treatment and disposal.

At the office of the Medical Superintendent, the MPCB team was shown slideshows on waste treatment and disposal systems being followed at the hospital.

The team checked the operationality of the waste incinerator, and inspected the system in place for segregation of waste.

The team then inspected the progress of the construction of two Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) .

During the inspection, Nepram Sanjib said RIMS Hospital is the largest hospital in the State spread across 300 acres and has a total of 1,315 beds.

As such it generates a huge amount of biomedical waste.

In one day, the hospital generates 219-255 kilograms of biomedical waste (which include anatomical waste) that are collected in yellow bins, and 78-104 kilograms of recyclable waste, collected in red bins.

The Yellow biohazard bins contain human anatomical waste which include human tissues, organs, body parts, foetus, placenta, solid waste--items contaminated with blood, body fluids like dressing, plaster casts, cotton swabs and bags containing residual or discarded blood and blood components.

Waste generated in laboratories, human and animal cultures, discarded linens and mattresses contaminated with blood and bodily fluids are also collected in the Yellow bins.

The Red bins contain contaminated recyclable waste like tubing, bottles, intravenous tubes, catheters, urine bags, syringes (without needles) and gloves.

The Blue bins contain broken or discarded and contaminated glass including medical vials and ampoules.

RIMS generates 38-49 Kg of such waste in a day.

Sharp metal waste are collected in white bins and the hospital generates 3.7 - 5.39 Kg of such waste.

The incinerator at RIMS can burn 105 kilograms of waste in one hour and the smoke produced is monitored online using the Continuous Emission Monitoring System, said Professor Sanjib.

When established, RIMS Hospital had no Effluent Treatment Plant.

Now, two plants are under construction and are expected to be inaugurated by August this year.

Once the plants become operational, the hospital will be able to treat the waste effluents more efficiently, said Sanjib.

In the meantime, the effluents are treated using chemicals adhering to the Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 and the advice of the Manipur Pollution Control Board, said Professor Sanjib.

Established as Regional Medical College (RMC) in 1972, the hospital was changed to an autonomous institute under the Central Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2007 .

The hospital has 125 MBBS seats, 166 MD/MS/DCP seats, 50 BDS seats, 50 BSc Nursing seats, 10 MSc Nursing seats and 6 MPhil seats.

At present, the hospital has a total of 623 MBBS students, and 450 are pursuing PG courses.