Medical wastes ending up in childrens' hands
At first glance, ten-year-old Hridoy looks like any other child his age, clad in a colourful T-shirt showing popular cartoon characters and a pair of shorts.
A closer look reveals that he is sitting on top of a pile of trash in a small plastic-recycling shed in the capital's Islambagh, tugging needles off used plastic syringes. His face is streaked with grime while his hands and feet are riddled with scars.
“The scars came from needle pricks. The spot must be burned to prevent infection but the scars remain on the skin,” he said.
His 15-year-old co-worker nonchalantly adds, “This is only the beginning. Hridoy has only been working for two months. I have worked here ever since I was a little boy and have been pricked by needles many times. I know it is dangerous, but what can I do?”
“We get injured so often that we do not bother to go to the doctor for it,” says Hridoy's father Belal, 52, who also works in plastic recycling enterprises.
Hearing of their only precautionary measure, it is possible that they perhaps do not know the extent of the dangers they are exposed to.
“A prick from a used needle could transmit life-threatening blood-borne or fluid-transmitted diseases like AIDS and Hepatitis B and C,” says Prof Dr Mohammed Kamal, pathology departmental head at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University.
Hundreds of children just like Hridoy are engaged in the industry of recycling plastic waste, a sizeable portion of which comprises medical waste, in Islambagh's alleys and surrounding areas.
Poverty forces them to endanger their lives 12 hours a day seven days a week for a meagre Tk 400.
The medical wastes come to Dhaka from all over the country via boat while the city's hospitals churn out plenty of their own. After collection and sorting, the plastic materials are sent to factories to be broken down and used in making new materials.
Children are present in all steps of the recycling process, but they mostly work in the sorting sector, the one Hridoy is engaged in.
However, Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association General Secretary KM Iqbal Hossain denied the presence of child workers in this plastic recycling industry.
It is difficult to estimate the number of plastic recycling enterprises present since the association claims that many are not registered with them.
Mitford Hospital, being close by, is a hot source of raw materials for the plastic recycling enterprises, the workers say.
Commander Enamul Haque, chief waste management officer at Dhaka South City Corporation, however, claimed that the corporation had a system for collection and proper disposal of medical wastes from hospitals.
This system upholds children's rights too, he said.
“Yet, I cannot claim that Mitford's staff do not unscrupulously sell medical wastes for personal benefits,” he says.
“Nonetheless, since the system is only limited to government hospitals, the Islambagh recycling factories can get medical waste supplies from profit-hungry private hospitals who scrimp for pennies,” he adds.
Enamul said, “We are trying to incorporate the private hospitals into the government waste-collection system as well and have decided not to renew their licenses if they refuse.”
Nurul Islam Tuhin, general manager of Shomorita Hospital, claimed that they were registered with the government waste disposal service. “All the big private hospitals use the government system,” he says.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef), children involved in medical waste disposal, collection and recycling are categorised as children doing hazardous jobs, says Unicef Communication Manager Arifa Sharmin.
Unicef Bangladesh is piloting a development project targeting child workers in the old part of Dhaka.
“The project aims to bring children out of hazardous professions. It is a cash transfer system that pays the family Tk 1,600 per month in order to keep their children in schools. So far we have reached 500 children, but will be targeting more in the future,” says Arifa.
But till each and every child is taken out of these hazardous jobs, the number of scars on little hands just like Hridoy's will continue to increase.
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