Healthcare Waste Report - Environment Health

For domestic wastes, hospitals usually sign
contract with the service companies in charge
of collection in the locality, for example The
Urban Environmental Companies
(URENCO) serves in Hanoi and Ho Chi
Minh City. Domestic waste collected by the
servicing company is then transported to the
municipal solid waste landfill.
Wastes generated from healthcare facilities are
transported to the general waste storage of the
facility at least once a day or when it is
necessary. Some healthcare establishments
have separate storage area for waste with
access for waste-collection vehicles. Above
right Figure shows the storage area for
healthcare waste.
Solid waste from hospitals are collected and
transported under specific contracts.
Healthcare wastes are stored in specific bins
containing biohazard symbol and transported
to landfill sites or incinerators by specific vans.
Figure below shows transportation of
healthcare waste.
Transportation of healthcare waste
(Source: Nguyen Trong Khoa, 2005)
Treatment and Disposal
97 HEALTHCARE WASTE IN ASIA: INTUITIONS & INSIGHTS
Storage place for healthcare waste
(Source: Nguyen Trong Khoa, 2005)
The most common methods for treating and
disposing of infectious wastes are incineration
and land disposal either within the hospital
premises or at disposal sites. Hospitals with
incinerators carry out incineration within their
facility. Hospitals without incinerators either
bury the waste within the hospital premises or
sterilize the waste and incinerate or bury them
at the municipal graveyard. There are very few
hospitals with incinerators, and the existing ones
are old and manually operated.
In Ho Chi Minh City, individual hospitals
manage their wastes through a contract with the
Ministry of Construction for collection and
combustion in existing incinerators. The
incineration facility is operated by Ho Chi Minh
City Environmental Company (CITENCO)
and is located in a crematorium. CITENCO
collected about 3500 kg of clinical waste from
healthcare facilities in and around Ho Chi Minh
City. There are totally 61 healthcare waste
incinerators, of which 47 were imported, 14 are
locally made, operating with 20-25% of their
capacity. According to Ministry of Health
regulations on healthcare waste, incinerators
should be of two-chamber operating at a
minimum secondary chamber temperature of
at least 1050° C. The Table (right) shows the
category of waste and the corresponding
method of treatment and disposal.
Investments on waste management in Vietnam
have increased rapidly from nearly USD 11.5
million (VND 195 billion) in 1998 to nearly
USD 65.3 million (VND 1100 billion) in 2003,
with about 12 % for medical waste.