Shedding Inertia

IT IS not a secret anymore that the two major national banks, Nepal Bank Limited and Rastriya Banijya Bank are gravely ailing institutions, nor are there any doubts that some meaningful intervention at this stage is highly overdue. The fact that rampant malpractice has been responsible for the downslide and the current state of the two commercial banks is also not hidden anymore. At such a juncture, getting international management companies and expertise to take over the management of the Banks is an idea that can be experimented with an is perfectly understandable. Rather it could be the only alternative. For these banks to run professionally and profitably, we have to shed the traditional hangover and explore options to protect the interest of the public in general. At this stage, Public Accounts Committee’s concern in the procedural and the technical details of the management agreement with the international management firms is commendable. However, this concern should be of the kind that holds the interest of the depositors, creditors and shareholders uppermost. What is surprising here is also why Nepal Rastra Bank, the Central Bank, as a regulatory body has not come into action for so long. The Central Bank can take recourse to Section 29 A of the Commercial Banking Act, 2031 BS, where it is very clear that if a commercial bank is found to be inefficient, and functioning against the interests of its shareholders and depositors, the board of such a bank can be suspended and the bank be taken in receivership for a period of time. The Central Bank also has the right to manage it or grant the management to some other body in such a case.

For the sake of professional banking in the country, PAC’s intervention should be one that looks at the alternative of management contract positively and concentrates more on how the agreement is being made and its technicalities rather than patronise the already existing inertia. There can certainly be nothing wrong in borrowing technical expertise or welcoming joint ventures or, for that matter, getting international management firms to take over the management of the sick banks if we stand to benefit from such measures. Therefore the question pertinent today is not whether we do it or not, rather how we go about it.

Medical Waste Disposal

IN order to manage the safe disposal of medical waste, both solid and liquid, a one-day workshop, entitled "Establishing a Medical Waste Management System" was organised recently in the capital city. The workshop was jointly organised by the Kathmandu Valley Mapping Programme of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the Environment and Public Health Organisation. During the workshop, the results of a survey made in Kathmandu Valley on the management of medical waste were also revealed and discussed. According to the survey, while the City of Kathmandu generates about 1,189 kg. medical waste per day, then based on the occupancy rate of beds in the Valley, medical waste generated each day in the whole Kathmandu Valley is over 1,300 kg. Though the above figures, when compared to the total waste produced per day by the people of the Valley, are indeed much less, this does not mean that the concerned authorities should pay less attention towards the proper disposal of medical waste in the Valley. For, if we are again to go by results of the same survey, if about 60 per cent of the medical waste generated are said to be non-infectious then 23 per cent are infectious. As such, the concerned authorities should and must also give equal attention to the proper disposal of medical waste if the well being of the Valley’s people is to be safeguarded.

Waste, by any name, is still waste. And, if waste, be it degradable or otherwise, is allowed to degenerate in the open due to lack of safe and proper disposal measures, then the same could, sooner, rather than later, become a ready source of further problem to the people and concerned authorities alike. Hence, while the need to further strengthen the Valley’s garbage disposal system by coming up with necessary initiatives and mechanisms simply cannot be overlooked, the concerned authorities should also enforce the existing provisions concerning the safe disposal of wastes generated by the medical institutions and organisations. Concerning the latter, if need be, they should not hesitate to come up with additional provisions by way of legislation or guidelines to ensure secure and reliable disposal of medical waste—which, compared to other wastes, has the potential to create greater health hazards. While they are at it, it also behoves upon the medical institutions to optimally maintain their waste disposal systems so that such potentially hazardous wastes are treated at the source, thereby greatly reducing their chances of mixing up with other kinds of waste.