Nature and the Environment in the News |
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Inspectors want Hanoi hospital fined in waste-selling racket On August 10, they discovered untreated waste from the hospital being loaded on vans to be sold to some local buyers for recycling for domestic use. None of the material - about one ton of injection needles, many still covered in blood, drug vials, and other items - had been sterilized. Nguyen Tien Quyet, director of Viet Duc Hospital, said Tuesday his hospital “did not have any policy of selling such lethal waste”. It only sold “treated and sterilized drug vials, bottles of transfusion liquids, and cartons”. He said the hospital had already dismissed Huong, a female contract employee in the Infection Control Department, where the waste is sifted for transport to the Industrial-Medical Waste Processing Plant. Huong was responsible for overseeing the loading of the waste into vans. Quyet said other employees involved in the racket would also be identified and penalized. Police and other agencies are investigating further to initiate criminal proceedings against those involved. They are also probing for similar rackets at other city hospitals. Tests showed that an untreated gram of medical waste could transmit 11 billion pathogens into the environment. According to the Environment Protection Bureau, Viet Duc has also been dumping sewerage in its neighborhood for years since it did not have processing facilities. The hospital claims it does not have the resources to install them and told inspectors it had asked the health ministry for funds. But it could not show them proof for making this request. Other major city hospitals like Bach Mai and Central Obstetrics too violated medical waste processing regulations and environmental safety rules, according to the inspectors. They plan to petition the ministry to provide funding for installation of waste and sewerage processing facilities at hospitals. Source: Nguoi Lao Dong, Sai Gon Giai Phong – Compiled by Tuong Nhi |
