Burning waste causes pollution at the Northwest Regional General Hospital

(Baonghean)The outdated waste treatment system, while the amount of medical waste is too large compared to the actual treatment capacity at the Northwest Nghe An Regional General Hospital, is polluting the surrounding environment, causing concern for many households near the hospital.

On the afternoon of May 24, we were present at block 1,2 - Long Son ward - Thai Hoa town, witnessing the pollution caused by the hospital from waste treatment.

The family most severely affected by pollution during the hospital's waste treatment process is the family of Mr. Le Minh Thang and Ms. Nguyen Thi Tiep in Block 1, Long Son Ward. Their house is next to the hospital fence, only about 30m from the waste treatment area. All day long, the family has to keep the doors and windows closed to deal with the smell of burning waste. According to her, every time the hospital burns waste, the smoke covers the entire area like fog, and the air gives off a very unpleasant burning smell, especially at night. "This situation can be tolerated for a day or two, but the smell keeps coming day after day because the waste in the pit keeps burning. My family has to close the doors and seal all the holes, but we can't eat well or sleep well. The only thing missing is having to wear a mask when going to sleep," Ms. Tiep said worriedly, holding her 7-month-old baby.



Mr. Nguyen Van Quang showed us the garbage pit that still smelled burnt even though there had been three rains in this area.

Also suffering from breathing polluted air from the hospital's garbage pit are about 20 households in block 1 and over 40 households in block 2, Long Son ward, Thai Hoa town. Ms. Le Thi Huong in block 1 reflected: "If the hospital cares about the lives of the surrounding residents, it should arrange a waste treatment area far from the residential area!".

Mr. Nguyen Van Quang - Head of Block 1 - Long Son Ward led us to directly "witness" the waste treatment area of ​​Nghe An Northwest Regional General Hospital. Here, in addition to a medical waste incinerator, there are 2 other very rudimentary waste pits. The closer we get, the heavier the stench from the waste burning process becomes. Mr. Quang said: "People suggest that if the Hospital does not have the conditions to build a waste treatment system, there should be a plan to take the waste to a treatment area far from residential areas. As it is now, the waste treatment pits are located right next to people's houses, day after day, year after year, making people suffer too much".

Talking to us about this issue, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha - Head of Infection Control Department of Nghe An Northwest Regional General Hospital said that currently, hazardous waste is treated by manual incinerators with a volume of 50-60 kg/day. Domestic waste is collected centrally and spread with treatment chemicals according to regulations. The cycle of burning domestic waste is also extended to limit smoke and odor. However, Ms. Ha also affirmed that in the process of waste treatment, it is still inevitable to cause pollution to the surrounding residential area.

In addition, the new hospital facility is in the process of being invested in and built, so the current facility does not have the funding to build a medical waste treatment system. Meanwhile, the hospital's internal resources cannot afford the funding to invest in building a medical waste treatment system. Another difficulty of the hospital is overload, leading to the infrastructure not being able to meet the demand. According to the initial scale, the hospital only had the capacity to serve 100 beds, but now it has to serve 250 beds.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Luong - Deputy Director of the Northwest Nghe An Regional General Hospital said: The General Hospital was newly invested in and started construction in 2008, expected to be completed in 2013. But currently, the project has only been partially completed, behind schedule. The hospital has also done its best to handle medical waste, but the most effective solution is still to have a plan to arrange resources to speed up the completion of the new hospital. At that time, the hospital will have the conditions to examine and treat people, as well as handle medical waste according to standards, without affecting the surrounding environment.

Thanh Duy