The incinerator incident at the Southwest Regional General Hospital has been resolved.

(Baonghean.vn) - Voters in Lam Tra village, Bong Khe commune, Con Cuong district reported that the waste incinerator and drainage ditch of the Southwest Regional General Hospital did not meet requirements, polluting domestic water and air, affecting people's lives.

The relevant authorities responded to this issue as follows:

a. Waste incinerator problem:

- The incinerator of the Southwest General Hospital is a 2-chamber incinerator using British technology, put into operation since June 2015, and has since then basically resolved hazardous waste at the hospital.

- Since the handover, the Hospital has always complied with the prescribed operating procedures to avoid any incidents. At the same time, environmental monitoring and supervision has been carried out in accordance with the regulations in Circular No. 31/2013/TT-BYT with a frequency of 03 months/time for incinerator emissions and 06 months/time for the surrounding air environment. The results of the incinerator emission monitoring sessions all meet the National Technical Regulation on medical waste incinerators QCVN 02:2012/BTNMT.

The Provincial People's Council's Culture and Social Committee surveyed the implementation of price regulations for some medical examination and treatment services at the Southwest Regional General Hospital, photo courtesy of the provincial People's Council.

- Recently, the incinerator's dust suppression system was broken, leading to a lot of black smoke and a burning smell. The hospital invited engineers to detect and repair the problem and by August 23, 2016, the repair was completed. The results of monitoring and testing the quality of the incinerator after repair showed good results, ensuring emissions to the environment according to QCVN 02:2012/BTNMT.

b. Wastewater ditch problem:

- The hospital has two separate wastewater collection systems including a surface water collection system and a medical wastewater collection system (including wastewater from technical operating rooms, hospital room cleaning water, laundry area wastewater, etc.). Surface water in the hospital follows a separate drainage ditch.

Medical wastewater is collected through separate pipes, passing through septic tanks in buildings before entering the hospital's centralized wastewater treatment system. As for medical wastewater in operating rooms and surgeries that cannot be collected, all hazardous wastewater spilled on the floor has been pre-treated (disinfected with PRESEPT and CloraminB) before entering the general treatment system.

- In July 2015, the Hospital invested in building an advanced AAO wastewater treatment system, funded by the World Bank, put into operation from January 1, 2016 with a treatment capacity of 150m3/day and night, but in reality, the hospital's wastewater currently only reaches 40-45 m3/day and night.

- Since the handover, the Hospital has always complied with the operating procedures as prescribed, so the system is currently operating very stably and effectively. At the same time, environmental monitoring is also carried out in accordance with the regulations on medical wastewater monitoring (Circular 31/2013/TT-BYT) with a frequency of 3 months/time as committed that the monitoring parameters of the monitoring sessions are all within the allowable threshold of the national technical regulation on medical wastewater QCVN 28:2010/BTNMT.

- Along the outside of the hospital fence, there is a common drainage ditch for the entire residential area west of the hospital. The hospital's discharge point also coincides with the discharge point of the area outside the hospital and this discharge point was a natural stream before the hospital was built; this is the discharge point that the Con Cuong District People's Committee compensated to make a drainage ditch for the entire area.

Gia Huy (TH)