VietNamNet Bridge - With only a third of HCM City’s 130 hospitals equipped with standard wastewater treatment facilities, medical waste poses a severe threat to the city’s environment.

According to a recent estimate, 70 per cent of the 170,000cu.m of wastewater discharged by the hospitals and hundreds of smaller clinics are untreated.

The Sai Gon General Hospital in downtown HCM City releases 300cu.m daily directly into the drainage system. The 1,700-bed Cho Ray Hospital treats around 4,000 people a day. It releases 3,200cu.m though its three-decades-old treatment system can handle only 500cu.m.

In 2006 the city Departments of Natural Resources and Environment and Healthcare decided to provide VND48 billion (US$2.8 million) to set up 56 wastewater treatment systems by 2008 but not much progress has been made.

Nguyen Van Chau, director of healthcare, said his department has urged hospitals to upgrade and build new waste treatment facilities.

Twentyseven have progressed up to the design stage but construction has been held up due to red tape. A city master plan for hospitals only allows those with a licence to operate until 2020 to build wastewater treatment systems.

The city plans to move several hospitals to the suburbs and instructed some to move out as long as 10 years ago. But they are still waiting for a final decision from the Government.

(Source: VNS)