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'Safety Pit from Sharp' - Small Gesture,
Big Help
 Who
ever thought that the magnificent palace of one of the
richest persons in the world - the Nizam - would be
transformed to something very special for the poor ragpickers?
But it has been done, the magnificient palace is no
more the home of the Nizam, but is a hospital for the
masses.
Sulabh Social Service Organisation has erected
an innocuous looking little structure in the King Kothi
Hospital's open yard. It is not just innocuous but rustic
and possibly also crude. A 18-inch thick circular tank
about five feet in diameter having a concrete lid with
four iron brackets to lift the lid up. A garishly painted
thin pipe stands three feet high in the centre. The
mouth of the dazzling red pipe is closed with an equally
dazzling red metal cap.
What is special about this crude structure is that
a whole lot of affection, care and concern have gone
into its erection. The care and concern the Sulabh Social
Service Organisation has for poor ragpickers. For, as
one knows, rag pickers thrust their bare hands and forage
heaps of garbage, picking precious valuables, which
can be extremely dangerous. They can be killers. Especially
when they are dumped from hospitals, where broken needles,
glass, syringes and blood soaked swaps, form major portion
of the garbage junk. These sharp, broken and even rusted
pieces can prick and pierce unsuspecting hands of the
ragpickers and lead to the spread of diseases as harmful
as STD and HIV. And that is why the Sulabh Social Service
Organisation has erected this crude-looking but life-saving
structure in the hospital yard.
When the dangerously sharp garbage is poured down the
dazzling  red
pipe, it gets crushed and blunted. It also gets accumulated
in the circular tank-like drum. The garbage-cleaners,
call them ragpickers if you like, lift the heavy lid
of the drum and empty the contents. They do not have
to thrust hands and forage. They are also safe from
blood and pus soaked cotton and dressings. So much care
for safety from sharp garbage is especially more needed
now because the hospital was recently converted in to
a referral hospital after constructing a new building
with the help of the World Bank funds.
Today, several hospitals all over the city and the
state refer their patients to this hospital for various
advanced check ups and treatment. As a result of the
increased handling of patients, the quantity of garbage
produced has also increased many a fold. And so has
the risks. The Safety Pit from Sharp, erected
only days back stands as a symbol of great wonders that
little gestures often do.
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