The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has painted a giant heap of medical waste collected daily – estimated at 1,000 metric tons – as the Philippines, now under various Alert levels, continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic.
DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones said: “That’s a lot. That means if our truck is 6-tonner, 166 trucks go out daily to collect this waste.”
The DENR coordinates with local officials to strictly enforce segregation and collection rules under the Solid Waste Management Act, he said in a press briefing.
Leones said barangays were responsible for bringing garbage to temporary transfer stations, where city or town authorities separate the healthcare waste. This is transferred to treatment facilities then to a final disposal site, he said. Meanwhile, the Department of Health told laboratories and hospitals to dispose of their medical wastes properly amid reports that seven children caught coronavirus disease 2019 after playing with garbage dumped by a diagnostic center in Catanduanes.
“First of all, we want to remind laboratories and facilities that there are laws that cover this kind of violation as well as policies) to guide you on what you’re supposed to do regarding these medical wastes,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a media briefing.
A media report on Monday revealed that a village in the province’s capital town Virac had found on January 24 garbage containing over 1,900 syringes and 2,000 blood sample tubes for COVID-19 tests and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) test kits, some of which were scattered on the shoreline.
“We are not going to tolerate this kind of irresponsible behavior,” she added.
Globally, the World Health Organization said tons of medical waste from the Covid-19 response expose the urgent need to improve health care waste management practices in countries.
In the Philippines, Vergeire said DOH continued to closely coordinate with other agencies, including health care facilities and local governments in providing guidelines on the disposal of COVID-19 wastes.
She said facilities were required to have a proper waste management system or else they cannot operate.