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Bali in need of better medical waste management: NGO
With more hospitals, clinics and healthcare centers being built in Bali every year, the government should enforce proper medical waste management at the facilities, environmentalists say
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ith more hospitals, clinics and healthcare centers being built in Bali every year, the government should enforce proper medical waste management at the facilities, environmentalists say.
Concern was raised a few weeks ago about how medical centers were disposing of medical waste after
the discovery of numerous syringes and ampoules mixed with regular trash on beaches in Seminyak and Petitenget.
“Every December until May, during the rainy season, the ocean current changes and carries more waste to the west coast of Bali, bringing piles of garbage to beaches.
“Late last month, we found syringes — some unused. Where does this come from?” Yuyun Ismawati of environmental group Bali Fokus said Thursday.
“From the size of the syringes, we have concluded they could have been those used by IDUs [injecting drug users], or from clinics or healthcare centers,” she said, adding that she had also been informed of other similar findings along the coast from Jimbaran bay to Canggu beach.
She said the finding could have drastic consequences because an outbreak of rabies on the island a couple of months ago had led many pet shops and veterinarians to put down dogs using syringes.
“Where does all of this waste go? Were they safely disposed of?” she said.
The environmental group called on the authorities to supervise medical waste management at medical centers.
Irmanda Handayani, also from Bali Fokus, said the common method of disposing of medical waste by burning it in incinerators was not 100 percent effective.
“Waste from incinerators should be checked to see if it is safe for disposal and does not exceed certain [sanitary thresholds]. And there should be strict monitoring systems at every hospital and clinic to ensure proper procedures are well implemented,” she said.
Ideally, she said, the provincial administration would build a special industrial and hazardous waste disposal facility, such as the Center for Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management (PPLI) in Cileungsi, West Java.
Bali Fokus said it estimated the average occupied hospital bed on the island produced between 1.5 and 8 kilograms of waste per day, 20 percent of which was medical waste.
The WHO puts the figure at 4 kilograms per bed per day, but the amount varies with hospital type.
Data from 2006 showed there were 1,178 hospitals in Indonesia, of which 49 percent were equipped with incinerators, but only 77 percent of those were operational. Bali is home to more than 30 hospitals throughout its nine regencies.
“Now the number of hospitals could be more than that, raising big questions about where the waste goes. We are sitting on a medical waste time bomb in Indonesia, and we need to seriously address this problem,” Yuyun said.
Several hospitals in Bali operate their own incinerators and collect medical waste from hospitals or clinics that do not have incinerators.
Sutikayasa, spokesman for Wangaya Hospital in Denpasar, said his hospital had never experienced any medical waste disposal problems. The hospital has been operating its own incinerator since last year,
he added.
“We process solid medical waste in the incinerator, which hits 800 degrees Celcius, and liquid [medical waste] in a wastewater installation system. Besides, medical waste and non-medical waste are separated from the beginning.”
He said the hospital management always ensured waste from the incinerator was safe before disposing of it at the Suwung landfill.
