THE Cebu City Council wants the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Central Visayas to provide an inventory of all existing hospital and medical waste facilities and other third party providers in Cebu and their status.
In his approved resolution, Councilor Joel Garganera also requested all public and private hospitals in the city to submit a report on the process and status of their medical waste disposal.
The move came after Garganera found out that medical waste in several public and private hospitals in the city were not collected for at least four months because of the absence of an accredited treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facility.
The Pollution Abatement Systems Specialists Inc., the TSD provider of Cebu City Medical Center and Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, has recently announced, though, that it resumed its operation of collecting infectious medical waste.
“There is a need to be updated on the current status and processes of hospital and medical waste disposal in the City of Cebu in order to prevent any environmental damage and health risks and hazards to the residents surrounding the communities,” Garganera said in his resolution.
He said that solid waste management and medical waste disposal and treatment are some of the main concerns of the local government units.
Apart from the request for the inventory of all TSDs in Cebu and the status of medical waste disposal in all hospitals in the city, Garganera also pushed for an executive session on January 30 with EMB-Central Visayas Director William Cuñado, DENR- Central Visayas Executive Director Gilbert Gonzales, and representatives of healthcare and TSD facilities.
In a privilege speech earlier in the Council, Garganera said that medical clinics and hospitals in the city are worried about the consequences of storing their wastes within their premises because of the absence of an accredited TSD facility.