On July 18, at the question session of the 24th session of the People's Council (People's Council) of Kien Giang province, delegates raised many pressing issues in all areas of life. Including the problem of medical waste treatment, the plasma technology medical waste incinerator invested by the Department of Health, when operating, causes smoke, dust, and bad odors.
Delegates also raised the issue that Kien Giang currently has 5 provincial hospitals, 15 district-level medical centers, and 144 commune-level medical stations. Every day, the amount of medical waste is huge, delegates are concerned about the classification, treatment and destruction of medical solid waste at medical facilities. Why has the medical waste incineration plant for the Provincial General Hospital invested by the Department of Health , which was built in 2021, been completed and put into trial operation but did not meet the requirements? When will the conditions and standards be met to put it into operation?
Mr. Ho Van Dung - Director of the Department of Health of Kien Giang province said: In order to treat medical waste in accordance with current regulations, the Department of Health has coordinated with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue Decision No. 06/2024/QD-UBND dated February 7, 2024 regulating the management of hazardous medical solid waste in Kien Giang province.
Accordingly, the health sector must treat waste on three scales: Centralized hazardous solid waste treatment (collect garbage and process it at a plasma incinerator); Treating hazardous solid waste according to the medical facility cluster model (including 12 clusters) and treating hazardous solid waste within the medical facility campus for facilities that have difficulty in transportation and centralized treatment. central.
Regarding medical waste treatment solutions in the near future, the Department of Health will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the status of medical waste treatment in clusters as well as medical facilities that burn their own medical waste. Propose investment in upgrading so that clusters can operate effectively.
For units with waste incinerators that have been invested in for a long time but are damaged and cannot operate or operate at low capacity, medical facilities will sign a treatment contract with a competent waste treatment unit. enough capacity and legal conditions to perform.
Currently, the health sector has not been able to treat medical waste on a centralized scale across the province because the plasma incinerator has not been officially put into operation. The Department of Health and the Provincial General Hospital are waiting for further guidance from the Provincial People's Committee and guidance from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to complete the conditions to put the plasma incinerator into operation as soon as possible. possible.
Regarding the issue of plasma incinerators, in a written response, the Director of the Department of Health of Kien Giang province said: After receiving feedback from the people, the Department of Health also immediately stopped burning trash and allowed Store remaining (unburned) garbage in accordance with regulations and submit it to the Provincial People's Committee for bidding for treatment in emergency situations. Currently, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has established an inspection team to monitor waste treatment content at the plasma incinerator area under the direction of the Provincial People's Committee.
In case of an unexpected incident that affects people living around the incinerator area, the Department of Health shares with the people and accepts part of the responsibility, and at the same time researches a plan to soon overcome the situation. this situation.
