ICYMI: Here are our top stories from Wednesday, September 4
Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (September 4, 2019).A worker sorts waste at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu. Kabin Adhikari/TKP
Here are some of the top stories from The Kathmandu Post (September 4, 2019).
Improper disposal of medical waste is putting garbage collectors—and the public—at risk
Sometime last year, a strong smell of rotting flesh started to emanate from the waste dumping area of the Bir Hospital. Workers from Metrocity Waste Management, which collects Bir Hospital’s general waste, started to sift through the garbage. Metrocity Waste Management collects non-risk general waste from hospitals, clinics, medical shops, medical laboratories and households. They soon found the source of the smell—an amputated leg. This was the second time in a year that workers had found a body part in the general waste.
Although most of Kathmandu’s medical institutions have adopted basic waste management methods like reducing, reusing, recycling and recovering healthcare waste, many are still failing to maintain waste disposal standards for hazardous waste due to lack of knowledge and resources, putting both workers and the environment at risk.
Everest Hotel plans a comeback without clearing outstanding dues
As The Everest Hotel in Baneshwor prepares to return to life from hibernation, the Department of Tourism says the five-star property, which owes a large amount to the government in unpaid taxes, has not taken approval for an environmental impact assessment or carried out the required procedures.
The Everest Hotel, which has remained shuttered for four years and intends to resume operations by September-end, has not even informed the department about its comeback plans.
Exam for journalists unnecessary and insignificant, say media analysts and former journalists
An amendment proposal registered by Nepal Communist Party lawmakers at the National Assembly secretariat on the controversial Media Council Bill has reignited the debate on whether journalists should have to undergo an exam to work as reporters and editors.
With online media portals rising and unreliable content proliferating across social media, a vocal section of the public has been demanding for some governmental intervention in the spread of such content. This sentiment led a group of ruling party lawmakers on Sunday to register an amendment proposal on the recently tabled Media Council Bill, proposing a provision for a ‘journalist’s licence’, which would require all journalists to pass an exam.
Thin polyethene bags are illegal in Nepal, but they are still everywhere
In Ason, pedestrians openly carry plastic bags. These bags—thin, translucent and mostly blue—are used to carry daily essentials, and have always been ubiquitous in Kathmandu. They’re waterproof, light, cheap, and versatile.
But Nepal banned polythene bags in 2015. Due to the excess usage of plastic in Kathmandu Valley, one is restricted to consume, import, store, sell and distribute polythene bags whose thickness is less than 40 microns and size is smaller than 20 by 35 inches. Outside the Valley, the ban is applicable to plastic that is thinner than 30 microns. And despite the 2017 budget speech reinforcing the ban and fining people anywhere between Rs 500 to 50,000 for using the bags, polythene bags continue to litter Kathmandu Valley.
9.89°C Kathmandu
.jpg&w=900&height=601)
