Group warns hospitals against indiscriminate

waste dumping

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

A WASTE-and-pollution watchdog has called for vigilance against hospitals that continue to dump wastes in open dumps in violation of the law as the group underscores the need to put in place and implement an efficient health-care waste-management system in hospitals and health-care institutions.

In a statement, EcoWaste Coalition said hospitals and health-care institutions need to collaborate with local government units to put in place an ecological system for managing their discards to prevent and reduce health and environmental hazards.

According to the Asian Development Bank’s Metro Manila Solid Waste Management Project report, dated September 2003, health-care facilities in Metro Manila generate about 47 tons of waste a day.

The estimates are based on the highest unit rates from the studies conducted at San Lazaro and at East Avenue Medical Center.  Given the present level of segregation, approximately 27 tons a day of the health-care waste (about 56 percent by weight) is considered infectious and/or potentially infectious.”

The group urged the public to report any incident of dumping of untreated infectious, pathological and hazardous waste from hospitals and other health-care facilities to public service radio or television programs or newspapers to ensure much-needed disclosure in the mass media of such public health hazard.

“While we believe that hospitals,  in general, are conscious of their social and environmental responsibility, we regret to say that some healthcare institutions still practice the bad and toxic habit of dumping highly infectious wastes in municipal waste dumps,” Rei Panaligan, coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition lamented.

According to Panaligan, the disposal of used syringes and untreated infectious waste through open dumping or open burning increases the risk of spreading disease-causing pathogens, as well as the formation of toxic environmental pollutants such as dioxins. 

The group cited the indiscriminate dumping of used syringes, intravenous tubes, anatomical or pathological discards by five of Cebu’s major hospitals in the Inayawan dumpsite, which was documented by Channel 7’s Imbestigador.

“We strongly urge the public to approach their favorite radio or television programs or write to their favorite newspapers as issues and complaints that get media attention tend to get speedy action and result,” EcoWaste said.

The group made its plea for the ecological management of discards in all public and private hospitals and allied facilities as the nation observes today, July 17, the fifth anniversary of the phase out of medical waste incinerators under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The CAA bans the incineration of municipal, medical and industrial waste and promotes the use of “safe nonburn technologies” for the treatment of the infectious and pathological portions of the health-care waste stream.

While outlawing incineration that emits poisonous and toxic fumes, the same law directs local government units to implement in their respective areas a comprehensive ecological waste management, including waste segregation, recycling and composting.

“The illegal and toxic practice of dumping and burning medical discards has to stop,” the EcoWaste Coalition emphasized.

“For the sake of the people’s health and the environment, we urge our hospitals and all other health-care institutions to seriously implement health- care waste-management system and collaborate with local government units to put in place an ecological system for managing their discards to prevent and reduce health and environmental hazards,” the group added.

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Group warns hospitals against indiscriminate waste dumping

A WASTE-and-pollution watchdog has called for vigilance against hospitals that continue to dump wastes in open dumps in violation of the law as the group underscores the need to put in place and implement an efficient health-care waste-management system in hospitals and health-care institutions.

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