The Hanoi medical sector is taking drastic measures to tighten themanagement of medical waste, which can pose a serious threat to humanhealth if not treated properly.

According to the municipalDepartment of Health, some 41 state-run hospitals, 52 polyclinics, fourmaternity hospitals, 584 medical clinics and other private medicalcentres in the city discharge nearly 592.4 tonnes of harmful medicalwaste every year, 2.97 million tonnes of ordinary waste and about 1.7million cubic metres of sewage.

The Department has asked relevantagencies to enhance dissemination of education on medical wastemanagement while increasing professional trainings for management andmedical staff in this field and completing legal procedures in managingmedical waste and protecting the environment.

Hospitals andmedical clinics need to segregate, transport, store and treat medicalwaste in line with current regulations, preventing harmful waste frombeing discharged into the environment.

The Department willpromote inspections of medical waste including examining waste transportvehicles, incinerators and classifications and work with relevantagencies to handle violations of the medical waste management process.

Inan effort to tighten the medical waste management in the city,state-run and private hospitals have been requested to set up detailedplans and examine waste collection and treatment systems to ensuresafety for hospital staff and patients.

Since 2012, the city hasinvested nearly 213 billion VND (9.9 million USD) in medical wastetreatment systems. To date, 41 hospitals have been equipped with liquidwaste treatment systems.-VNA