Group raises alarm over plan to revive incinerators

CEBU, Philippines – Calling it "revival of the unfittest," an environmental health group, Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA), has raised alarm over the proposal to revive the use of incinerators by the Department of Health.

Under the DOH's draft Health Executive Agenda for Legislation (HEAL), there is a proposal to amend the Clean Air Act to allow the use of incinerators designed in such a way that product combustion gases shall be treated and harmful emissions are removed before gases are released to the atmosphere and advance emission control design and stringent regulation shall ensure wastes are disposed without detrimental impact to the environment.

According to Merci Ferrer, HCWH-SEA Executive Director, the revival of the use of incinerators, whether it will be used for general or medical wastes, is like going back to the time when people are "ignorant of the dangers of waste incineration."

Burning of wastes releases dioxins and furans that are dangerous to people's health and the environment. In 1999, Philippines successfully banned the use of incinerators for general wastes and subsequently the use of incinerators for medical waste in 2003. The country remains the only country in the world to ban incinerators.

"We started paying in 2001 and are still paying an average US$2 million a year for the P503-million loan used to fund a defunct Austrian Medical Waste Incinerator Project," Ferrer pointed out. "Unless this loan is cancelled, we will be paying until 2014 for a technology which contrary to claims was far from being state of the art.

"DOH should seriously look into developing a legislative agenda around the cancellation of the debt and rechanneling of resources to strengthen the waste management needs of public hospitals," Ferrer emphasized.

"The revival of incineration is an uncalled for. This is a total disregard of the best practices of hospitals, a contradiction against the best management practices that is being implemented in health care facilities around the country," said Cristina Parungao, HCWH-SEA program officer for Promotions of Best Hospitals Practices . 

"Safe, clean, cost-effective and healthy and environment-friendly alternatives to incineration are very much available," Parungao added.

She cited autoclave which the government allocated a P100 million budget for in 2008 for several DOH-controlled hospitals. "This however is still undisbursed and was even decreased to P50 million."

"As the DOH starts its review of the Health Care Waste Management Manual3, we reiterate that instead of pushing for incineration, alternative technologies must be given outmost attention. Also, we would like to hear the report on the implementation of the manual, its strength and weaknesses and why incineration is coming back into the picture," Ferrer pointed out. - /WAB (THE FREEMAN)