The inspection of hospitals, following the resultsof a recent survey, aims to improve hygiene in hospitals and healthcentres to prevent the spread of infectious diseases caused byimproperly disposed medical waste.
A survey conducted by thehealth department discovered that local hospitals failed to obeyregulations in sorting out, transporting and treating medical waste.
Alack of funding was blamed for difficulties that the hospitals had tocope with in operating the medical waste treatment systems and cleaningthe hospitals.
About 3,500 tonnes of medical waste were discharged from hospitals and health centres last year in the city.
The survey, however, found that hospitals had spent a large amount of money to treat medical waste.
Dong Da Hospital had paid 1.2 billion VND (56,400 USD) for cleaning the hospital this year.
Thiscost did not include expenses of running and maintaining the wastewatertreatment system or payment for equipment to treat medical solid waste.
The city now has 41 public hospitals, 29 private hospitals, and 45 public health clinics.-VNA