VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Health has estimated that Viet Nam needs to invest between US$120 and $150 million in medical waste treatment systems as matter of urgency to reduce environmental pollution.

A medical worker disposes of harmful waste at the Tam Diep Hospital in the northern province of Ninh Binh. Up to US$150 million is needed to build medical waste treatment systems.

According to experts, medical waste discharged by hospitals can contain up to 1,000 germs and more than 200 kinds of viruses, which can spread easily. Untreated medical waste poses a huge threat to people’s health.

Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu and ministry inspectors this week checked treatment systems at two hospitals, Saint Paul and Thanh Nhan, in the capital city.

Thanh Nhan Hospital’s waste water treatment system, installed in 2006, treats 400cu.m per hour. The hospital also treats 700kg of solid waste per day, at a daily cost of VND1.5 million ($90).

Le Van Diem, director of Saint Paul Hospital, whose waste water treatment system has been operating for two months, says the system treats 400cu.m per hour. Waste treatment costs for the hospital amount to about VND1 billion ($60,000) each year.

Before installing the treatment system, Saint Paul Hospital had its waste water treated with Cloramine B, before releasing it into the city’s general waste water system.

Trieu said the two hospital’s treatment systems and technology were effective and would be used as a model for other hospitals.

However, according to Trieu, more than 30 per cent of Viet Nam’s 1,050 hospitals had no treatment facilities at all. About 33 per cent of them have medical waste water treatment systems which meet requirements, while another 30 per cent have inadequate treatment systems.

Minister Trieu said all waste must be treated before being released into the environment. However, hospitals with no treatment systems could treat their waste with Cloramine B before releasing it into the environment.

Trieu said special hospitals that posed a high risk of spreading germs and viruses such as the Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Hospital must treat their waste under strict guidelines.

He said the ministry would work with others to study and submit a programme on waste treatment to the Prime Minister. Under the programme, the ministry and authorities in cities and provinces will be responsible for building treatment systems for the hospitals in the coming time.

According to the ministry, about 40 per cent of poisonous medical waste was disposed of by being burnt in standard incinerators, another 33 per cent in poor quality ones with the rest, in the open, posing the greatest risk.

(Source: VNS)