DENR monitors hospital wastes

Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes yesterday directed field officials of the department to closely coordinate with government and private hospital administrators and inspect their waste disposal system to prevent the unsafe disposal of toxic hospital wastes.

Reyes made the announcement during the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines forum at the Manila Hotel where he told hospital operators that the inventory of hospital wastes will start in Metro Manila. Where 197 hospitals generate 47 tons of wastes daily.

He said out of these 47 tons of hospital wastes to be disposed, 27 tons are non-infectious and 20 tons are infectious. "Of the 20 tons of infectious waste generated per day, only seven tons are monitored while the remaining 13 tons are unmonitored. Improper disposal of these infectious wastes endangers the public," Reyes said.

The environment department has no idea where the 13 tons of unrecorded hospital wastes are disposed.

In the same forum, Reyes asked private hospitals to look into the possibility of clustering themselves together to put up their own treatment facility. He said the DENR will provide technical assistance, particularly in identifying appropriate areas where they can set up their treatment facility.

Based on record, Metro Manila has only four treatment facilities that treat infectious waste. These are Chevalier Enviro Services Inc., St. Luke’s Medical Center, PAE Environmental Inc., and Clean List Industrial Sales.

"Infectious wastes are a fraction of medical waste that can potentially transmit infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B, among people," Reyes added.

He asked hospital administrators, particularly of private hospitals, to strictly implement waste segregation and to deal only with waste treatment facilities and transporters accredited by the Environmental Management Bureau to ensure the health and safety of the people.

Reyes reminded hospital owners to take cognizance of two laws that govern the disposal of wastes, Republic Act No. 8749 or the Clean Air Act and RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. The Clean Air Act prohibits the burning of bio-medical wastes and requires the phase out of existing incinerators by July 2003. It also provides for the setting up of treatment facilities that will treat their waste before final disposal.

The Eco-Waste Management Act requires proper segregation, recycling and composting of the non-infectious fraction of the waste stream.

At present, final disposal of non-infectious wastes is conducted by the city or municipality where the hospitals are located.