Hanoi (VNA) – The Medical Environment Management Agency hasannounced that 478 out of 543 hospitals across Vietnam have well-operatingwaste treatment systems, accounting for 88 percent of the total.
According to the agency’s statistics, the waste water treatmentsystems of 54 hospitals are not working or worked poorly, while 11 hospitalshave no waste treatment facilities or are building new ones.
Hazardous medical waste accounts for about 23 percent of thetotal medical waste, 99 percent of which have been treated properly.
At present, 192 hospitals own incinerators to burn solidwaste. However, most of them are out of date and posing a threat to theenvironment.
The agency said that over the past time, it has organised manyactivities on medical waste management, including training courses on wastemanagement for officials of local health departments, health clinics, localDepartments of Natural Resources and Environment, environment police, andoperators of hospital waste treatment systems.
The agency also held a competition on waste treatment andenvironmental protection, and organised inter-sectoral inspection delegationsto check environmental protection and waste treatment work at hospitals andlocal health departments.
In the time ahead, the agency will continue working toperfect legal documents on medical environment management and pilot contractingout medical waste water treatment services.-VNA