Hospitals lack waste treatment facilities

Only 52 out of Ho Chi Minh City\'s 113 public and private hospitals have standard wastewater-treatment systems, the Department of Health has reported.

The rest have rudimentary systems at best that cannot cope with the load and are all in the process of upgrading or installing new systems.

The report also shows that more than 7,200 private clinics too have basic waste treatment systems like septic tanks that discharge into the sewerage.

But the department has yet to penalise any hospital or clinic without a modern waste treatment system.

Truong Trong Nghia, deputy head of the city People\'s Council\'s Board for Economic and Policy Affairs, said things are ambiguous because of the decentralisation of environmental protection to the district level.

This leads to the worse violations of polluted environment in health sector, he added.

The department yesterday petitioned the People\'s Committee to review and approve its master plan for developing hospitals through 2020 which makes it mandatory for hospitals to have standard waste treatment systems.

It has also sought permission for setting up an intermediate storage facility for solid and hazardous wastes that are to be destroyed.

It sought further support in the form of human resources and funds for companies that collect medical waste.

Departments of Finance and Natural Resources and Environment should increase the payments for collecting medical waste because the current charges are too low, the petition said.

Hospitals should be allowed to sign contracts with organisations as well as individuals who have a licence to recycle medical wastes, it added.