Kathmandu, April 20 -- Some private hospitals in Kathmandu Valley have not even been carrying out autoclaving of used syringe needles and hazardous medical wastes, a random inspection by the environment department of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City shows.

Autoclaving is a steam sterilisation process that medical facilities use to disinfect small equipment, tools or medical waste, so that it can be disposed of safely.

"We have fined three private hospitals in the current fiscal year for ignoring our instruction to manage the hazardous waste safely," said Shristi Shrestha, an environment inspector at the department.

Experts say hospital waste management is an important but neglected issue in Kathmandu. Officials said that along with priv...