COA flags Bulacan government for uncollected hospital wastes

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Audit (COA) has warned the provincial government of Bulacan on the hazards posed by uncollected and improperly stored wastes from seven public hospitals in the province.

“Inspection and validation by an audit team showed that hazardous and infectious wastes... were not regularly collected,” the COA said in its 2018 report.

“This condition exposed hospital patients, health workers and the general public to the danger of human waste, infectious diseases and other toxic wastes,” the report stated.

The COA also noted that the permit of Cleanway, Bulacan provincial government’s hauler of hospital wastes, has yet to be approved by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as of February.

State auditors said the Bulacan Medical Center has created an “illegal dumping site” of medical and general wastes due to the delay in the collection of the garbage.

The COA said uncollected wastes at the Rogaciano M. Mercado Memorial Hospital continue to pile up while wastes stored in a hut of RMMMH, which remain uncollected for years are now in a “rotten state.”

It also cited improper storage and disposal of wastes at the Emilio G. Perez Memorial District Hospital.

The Baliuag, San Miguel and Calumpit District Hospitals were credited for ”organized handling” of their hospital wastes.

However, state auditors said these hospitals reported that their wastes were not collected for six months to almost a year.

The Gregorio del Pilar District Hospital was “quite organized” in its disposal of hospital wastes, but lacked a suitable and proper space for temporary storage. 

The COA said the failure of the provincial government to ensure proper storage and timely disposal of hazardous and infectious wastes was a violation of Republic Act 8749 or the Clean Air Act, RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act and Department of Health Manual on Health Care Management. 

The audit body put the provincial government to task for assigning solid waste management responsibilities to its general services office instead of the Bulacan Environmental Natural Resources Office (BENRO). 

The provincial government, for its part, said BENRO initiated consultations with pollution control officers of concerned public hospitals.