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Sunday, September 14, 2008
Body parts found in landfill
CEBU CITY -- Officials of Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) will be on the hot seat again after body parts and hospital wastes from the city hospital were found dumped at the Inayawan sanitary landfill.
At 9 p.m. Friday, scavengers at the landfill found a pile of rubbish that sent them calling on the police.
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Body parts and internal organs were found at the dumpsite.
PO3 Geoffrey Gutual said the parts were most likely from a medical school or a hospital.
Inayawan landfill chief, engineer Randy Navarro said the body parts, dumped by a garbage truck of the Department of Public Services (DPS), came from the CCMC.
Alex Magpuyo, 23, a scavenger at the area, told police that the DPS truck, with body number DT 20, arrived at the facility at past 5 p.m. Friday.
Initially, police found a human left leg, intestines, brains, lungs and other organs, some of which were placed in jars and other containers.
Gutual said there were more parts underneath the pile of garbage such as a knee bone but they weren't able to dig through it.
They merely took photos of what they found for documentation.
Navarro told Sun.Star Cebu that they sent the 10 kilos of body parts to the Pollution Abatement Systems Specialists Inc. (Passi) incineration facility near the landfill for treatment before being buried.
He said they counted a pair of feet, a heart, skins with clinging fats and tissues, and a few human soles placed inside big glass bottles.
"(It was a) DPS truck that delivered the body parts. But why didn't CCMC have it treated first? Kahasol ba uy. CCMC itself kahibalo unsa ang rules and regulations unsaon pag-dispose of ato," Navarro said.
In a radio dyHP interview, Mayor Tomas Osmeña, who was in Negros island, said he will have the incident investigated.
City Councilor Augustus Pe Jr. also sought an investigation on the possible lapses of the CCMC management in their waste disposal, since they are supposed to bury body parts, and not throw them away.
Environmental Management Bureau (EMB)-Central Visayas Director Alan Arranguez will likewise order an investigation.
Pe, deputy mayor for the Inayawan landfill, said this is the first time he heard of body parts dumped in the facility since the mayor asked him to oversee its operations three years ago.
"CCMC is not supposed to throw away body parts, they are supposed to bury it in the cemetery. So I will recommend to the mayor to have the CCMC investigated and explain why they did this," Pe told Sun.Star Cebu.
CCMC's waste
What can be thrown into the landfill are hospital wastes, used syringes, soiled linens and diapers, but even these have to go to a special area designated for wastes coming from clinics and hospitals, he said.
But in a separate interview Saturday, CCMC acting chief Dr. Myrna Go said it is the DPS that is tasked to dispose of hospital wastes properly.
For many years now, CCMC simply segregates their wastes, segregating body parts and tissues from food wastes and used hospital supplies.
The body parts, she said, are picked up separately by the DPS garbage trucks to be buried, while the used hospital supplies and food wastes, also picked up separately, are taken to the landfill.
Under Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, medical and health care facilities are required to segregate ordinary kitchen wastes (like leftover food) from infectious and hazardous materials, which include bandages, used needles and syringes, and body tissue.
Segregation
"We always see to it that the wastes are segregated properly when the DPS' garbage trucks pick them up. It is up to them to dispose of the body parts. That has always been the arrangement. And they already know what to do with it," Go said.
Sun.Star Cebu tried to call DPS Chief Dionisio Gualiza for comment on Saturday but his mobile phone was off.
The DPS garbage truck picked up the body parts from the CCMC last Friday night and dumped them at the Inayawan landfill.
Go said the body parts and tissues were from the previous years' surgery, which were stored for examination and research purposes.
She explained that they have been careful in disposing of hospital wastes and body parts, which can only be disposed of after a certain number of years that they have been soaked in formalin, in compliance with hospital rules.
"We just keep them in the hospital for some time and when they are cleared for disposal, we would call the DPS to ask them to pick it up. Each time we request them to come, it is a special trip intended only for body parts and hospital wastes," she added.
First time
Navarro, meanwhile, said that as far as he can remember, it was the first time that body parts were thrown in the facility.
The CCMC, he said, normally sends to the dumpsite as waste used syringes, dextrose, and diapers, which they place in an especially dug-up hole and cover with loam.
He also said that Passi personnel told him that CCMC used to have its waste treated in their facility until recently.
"Wala na kuno nagpa-cater sa ilaha," Navarro said.
He said the landfill gives special treatment to CCMC waste because of the health hazard it poses to people by placing them in a separate cell.
Navarro said they are still trying to improve the hole for the CCMC waste after their two bulldozers broke down. (MEA/LCR/RHM/Sun.Star Cebu)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (September 14, 2008 issue)
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