They said the city dwellers are inhaling crore of germs everyday due to dumping of hospital wastes in dustbins and open spaces.

The press conference was organised by Greens, an environmental care organisation, at Dhaka Reporters' Unity (DRU) Auditorium.

Expressing concern over the health hazards caused by hospital wastes, the speakers said the street scavengers are worst affected by hospital wastes as they handle the wastes with bare hands.

The scavengers could be contaminated easily with HIV or Hepatitis B virus and other infectious diseases, they said, adding the germs could also spread to their family members.

Dr Mahmudur Rahman, president of Greens, said medical organisations like hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres are constantly polluting the environment and endangering public health with a wide range of medical waste but the hospital authorities do not have any initiative regarding the waste management.

According to Dhaka City Corporation, over 600 metric tons of waste is produced daily from numerous hospitals, clinics and other healthcare service providing organisations, he said, adding that a research report of the World Bank said around Tk 350 crore loss is being incurred every year due to environmental pollution.

Dr Rahman suggested installation of auto-clave machine, similar to pressure cooker, which raises the temperature to 122 degree celsius to make the wastes like used syringes, gloves and others toxic free.

"We are not aware that we are inhaling crore of germs every moment through air pollution caused by hospital wastes," he said, adding that a government policy along with public awareness is a must to solve the deadly problem.

Prof Abu Syed Ahmed Siddique, a plastic surgeon, presented a slide show titled 'Medical wastes: Major health hazard' at the press conference demonstrating how various diseases are caused by hospital wastes.

He also pointed out that around 3350 metric tons of wastes including 670 metric tons of hospital wastes are being produced in the city everyday.

Greens Secretary General Rezwan Maruf urged the government to formulate a policy for the management of hospital wastes to avoid serious health hazards.

Hasan Mahmud Nipu, secretary general of Greens' New York unit, and Dr Khandaker Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman, an advisor of Greens, also spoke at the conference.