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Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Hospitals told: Treat wastes or pay fines
Hospitals in Cebu must install treatment facilities for their medical wastes or suffer the consequences of violating Republic Act 6969 or the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990.
Jun Erasmo Villafañe, former regional director of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7, said the EMB will strictly implement RA 6969 in the region after it finishes its information dissemination campaign through a series of meetings with hospital administrators.
“We have been talking with them (hospital administrators) and telling them to comply with the law. We told them that we will start roving around to check if they are implementing measures to comply,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
RA 6969 requires the proper management and disposal of toxic and hazardous substances, including medical wastes, Villafañe said.
Section 15 of the law authorizes the secretary of environment and natural resources to impose a fine of not less than P10,000, but not more than P50,000, on violators.
Villafañe said while the EMB is giving hospitals the discretion to pick the technology they want to use, the bureau has recommended the use of the hospital waste treatment facility of Pollution Abatement Systems Specialist Inc. (Pass), so the hospitals can save money.
Pass, a group of Cebuano mechanical engineers, invested P20 million for the installation of the first hazardous health care waste treatment facility in the Visayas and Mindanao at the Inayawan dumpsite.
Pass president Lito Pugoy said the facility uses the autoclave technology, the most commonly used health care waste treatment technology in the United States. An autoclave destroys infectious agents through the use of steam heat and pressure. Unlike in incineration, the waste materials are not burned, reducing the risk of dioxin production.
He said Pass is currently serving fewer than five health care institutions, including the Philippine National Red Cross, Cebu Visayas Community Hospital, Hi-Precision and the University of San Carlos laboratory.
Pugoy said Pass is charging P37 for every kilo of waste treated in the facility. This is P5 cheaper than the rate in Metro Manila.
The facility can treat 2,000 kilos of hospital garbage daily. This is more than the 1,600 kilos of estimated daily hospital wastes in Metro Cebu. (JBN)
(June 21, 2005 issue)
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