Hyderabad Hospitals Accused of Water Pollution
Hospitals in Hyderabad are allegedly poisoning local water bodies by discharging untreated waste. A recent report suggests this is an ongoing environmental issue in the city. The specific hospitals involved in the alleged pollution were not named in the report.
- A recent study by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and TIGS, Bengaluru, found that sewage from areas within a two-kilometer radius of major multi-specialty hospitals in Hyderabad showed a significantly higher diversity of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The study identified 89 different pathogens in the collected sewage that are evolving resistance to common antibiotics like Azithromycin and Tetracycline. - This is not a new issue for the city; in 2017, the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) found at least 20 hospitals, including major private and government facilities, to be illegally dumping 9.98 tonnes of biomedical waste on open land in Quthbullapur. - India's Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, first established in 1998 and updated in 2016, mandate that all healthcare facilities must segregate waste at the source and ensure it is treated and disposed of without adverse effects on human health or the environment. The rules require every authorized institution to handle waste according to strict protocols, including pre-treating laboratory and blood waste on-site. - The broader context of water pollution in Hyderabad is severe, with a Telangana Pollution Control Board report revealing that 185 water bodies within the Hyderabad Metropolitan Area contain toxic heavy metals like cadmium, mercury, and lead. Studies also show that four of the city's six main drinking water sources are critically polluted with sewage and industrial effluents. - Untreated wastewater is a major contributor to the problem, as the city generates around 1,600 million liters of wastewater daily, but only has the capacity to treat about 700 million liters. This gap leads to widespread contamination of local lakes and rivers. - In September 2025, the Telangana Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association, along with 434 private healthcare facilities, took legal action against the Telangana Pollution Control Board over the fee structure for biomedical waste disposal, arguing the per-bed charging system was discriminatory. - The consequences of untreated hospital discharge extend beyond antibiotic resistance. Such waste can contain a variety of hazardous materials, including expired medicines, human anatomical waste, and items contaminated with blood, which can transmit diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis, and hepatitis if not managed properly. - Concurrent with the pollution issues, at least 250 private hospitals in the Hyderabad district are facing show-cause notices for operating without mandatory registration, following a survey by district collector's offices.
