PB asked to build its own medical waste facility

The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) has suggested to the Cebu Provincial Board to consider building a province-owned hazardous waste hauler and treatment, storage, and disposal facility to address the persistent problem of uncollected and improperly disposed medical waste.

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During the board’s regular session last Monday, August 11, DOH-7 representative Elaine Mae Sablan said the establishment of a DENR-accredited Treatment Storage Disposal Facility (TSDF) under provincial management would be “less costly, more economical, and practical”, especially given the high number of hospitals in Cebu.

A TSDF is a specialized sites designated for handling healthcare and hazardous wastes.

At present, only one DENR-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) Region 7-accredited hauler caters to 16 hospitals across the province, a setup Sablan described as insufficient.

She noted that all province-owned hospitals have a memorandum of agreement with just one transporter, Mr. Trust Bin, which is based outside Cebu.

“So the best way, probably, Mr. Chair and the rest of the body, is if the Province of Cebu can have our own medical waste treatment, storage, and disposal facility,” Sablan told the board.

Under Republic Act 6969, known as the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990, the Philippine government mandates strict regulation on the importation, manufacture, processing, transport, treatment, storage, and disposal of chemical substances and mixtures that may pose unreasonable health or environmental risks.