AN increasing number of hospitals throughout the country have unfurled black banners at the entrance of their main buildings expressing their strongest opposition to the planned return of incineration in the country.
Hospitals from Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao hang a black banner saying “Incineration harms. Burn not,” calling attention to the revival of incineration of hospital waste after several government officials said that incineration is the key to addressing the country’s waste problem.
“As doctors, we want to provide quality and healthy life to our patients. Reviving incineration is a complete contrast to this,” said Dr. Manuel Chua Chiaco Jr., Medical Director of the Philippine Heart Center. “It is a total disregard for the waste management practices of our hospital.”
The hospitals hanging the banner proclaiming the hospital staff’s opposition to the return of medical-waste incineration are Philippine Heart Center (Quezon City) and San Lazaro Hospital (Manila) and all 11 hospitals owned, co-owned and administered by St. Paul de Chartres (SPC) Health Care Ministry. These are De La Salle University (DLSU) Medical Center (Dasmariñas, Cavite), General Santos Doctors Hospital (General Santos City), Julio Cardinal Rosales Memorial Hospital (Dalaguete, Cebu), Notre Dame de Chartres Hospital (Baguio City), Our Lady of Peace Hospital (Parañaque City), Perpetual Succor Hospital (Cebu City), St. Joseph Southern Bukidnon Hospital (Maramag, Bukidnon), St. Paul Hospital (Dasmariñas, Cavite), St. Paul’s Hospital in Iloilo City, St. Paul Hospital in Tuguegarao City, and Maria Reyna Xavier University Hospital (Cagayan de Oro City).
Sr. Arcelita Sarnillo of the SPC Health Care Ministry said, “Incineration ban is the best thing that has happened to the country when it comes to waste management. The health-care sector can attest that there are safe and clean alternatives to incineration.”
In 2004 medical waste incineration was banned in the country following the banning of general waste incineration in 2001 as mandated by the Clean Air Act.
While health-care facilities regularly use some of the most toxic substances known, solid waste comprises the largest portion of a healthcare facility’s waste (75 percent to 80 percent). “Through proper waste management such as waste minimization, efficient segregation, green purchasing, re-use, recycling and composting, we can greatly reduce the volume of our waste,” said Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia’s Merci Ferrer.
Of the remaining 20 percent to 25 percent hazardous waste, only 15 percent to 20 percent are infectious waste which are commonly raised as an excuse for reviving medical waste incineration.
“These can easily be dealt with using alternative technologies which are widely available in the country,” she added.
Among the alternative treatment technologies for treating waste, without burning, are autoclave, microwave, and dry-heat treatment technologies.
A good example of proper health-care waste management without burning are SPC hospitals that reduce the volume of waste and even earned money through recycling programs and composting. In 2009 St. Paul Hospital in Cavite earned P40,000 from recycling waste. St. Paul Hospital in Tuguegarao City earns P3,500 to P5,000 per from month recycling its wastes.
“All SPC-owned and administered hospitals in the Philippines are opposed to the return of waste incineration,” said Sr. Sarnillo. “Environmental stewardship is one of the advocacies of SPC Health Care Ministry. Each of our hospitals has worked on their own waste management practices and systems and they all have proven that the hospitals can earn extra money from waste segregation. Also, technologies such as autoclave and microwave are a far more effective means of disinfecting infectious wastes.”
“The Philippine Heart Center has implemented proper waste management in compliance with the law,” said Dr. Chua Chiaco Jr. “It has been very effective and we encourage the government to learn from our example. We also encourage other hospitals to take their stand against the effort to bring back incineration to the country. We have a moral responsibility to our patients and to take care of people’s health. We must not go back to incinerating our wastes.”
