HEALTH CARE WASTE TO BE TACKLED IN SEMINAR

The Department of Environment and the Natural Resources, through its Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), is set hold seminar to discuss issues and concerns regarding health care wastes generated by hospitals, clinics and other health care providers in the Visayas tomorrow (September 10, 3003) at the training center of local DENR office in Banilad, Mandaue City

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Elisea Gozun said the conduct of the seminar is intended not only to present the updates on the country’s health care waste management program but also to solicit commitments from the medical stakeholders, including government agencies, to comply with Republic Act No. 8749, otherwise known as the Philippine Clean Air Act.

Earlier, two parallel seminars have been conducted by the EMB for the islands and Mindanao last July 2 and September 8, 2003, respectively. According to Gozun, the seminars resulted not only in defining the waste management scheme in hospitals but also the training of personnel of hospitals and other health care establishments in health care waste management.

It will be recalled that the issue on hospital wastes came into light following the lapse of the July 17, 2002 deadline for the total phase –out of biomedical incinerators as stipulated in the Philippine Clean Air Act. This prompted Senator Robert Jaworski, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, to call on the DENR and the Department of Health to work overtime to solve the hospital waste problem.

EMB Director Julian Amador defined health care wastes as wastes generated by hospitals, clinics and other health care establishments. He also said health care wastes are categorized as hazardous wastes requiring proper treatment and disposal to ensure the protection of public health and the environment.

A study conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency on hospital waste generation in1999 revealed that the quantity of hazardous and infectious wastes generated daily by primary hospitals amounted to 0.152 kg/bed, 0.213 kg/bed for secondary hospitals, and about 0.305 kg/bed for tertiary hospitals .

The latest study financed by the Asian Development Bank on medical waste management in Metro Manila placed the volume of health care waste generated daily at about 47 tons. Of this total, it is estimated that about 27 tons or 56% is considered infectious and/or potentially infectious.

At present, there are only two waste treatment facilities in Metro Manila, serving only about 25% of the total health care wastes, according to Amador, with the remaining wastes either being treated by hospitals on-site or co-disposed with the municipal solid wastes in local government dumpsites.

Other topics for discussion in the seminar include alternative options in dealing with health care wastes, relevant policies on health care waste management, the different technologies for medical waste treatment and disposal, as well as the identification of the final disposal facilities for the treated health care wastes. CA