EDITORIAL — Hazardous and infectious

A Provincial Board member is calling attention to recent reports of hazardous and infectious waste allegedly being improperly disposed of in various towns.

Ex-officio PB member Celestino “Tining” Martinez III said there was the discovery of almost 300 drums of uncollected medical waste in a hospital in Mandaue City and dumping incidents of hazardous and infectious waste in Barangay Libjo in Tabogon, Barangay Mahawak in Medellin, and also in Sogod.

Now he wants to know how infectious and hazardous wastes are being managed in government and private hospitals in the province.

Where to dump our trash has always been a problem in this tiny island of ours. Remember that a few years back Cebu City was closing down the Mambaling dumpsite because it was already over capacity? It was looking to throw trash in the mountain barangays or even outside its jurisdiction.

But then again, hazardous and infectious medical waste isn’t just like ordinary garbage.

The bulk of ordinary garbage can actually be harmless, given they are left in a place where they don’t eventually end up in the drainage system.

On the other hand, if not handled properly, hazardous and infectious waste tends to pose more danger to health because of their hazardous and infectious nature.

We are talking about contaminated materials like used bandages, dressings, and gloves. Dangerous items like needles, syringes, scalpels, and broken glass. Pathological waste like human tissue, organs, body parts, and blood. Even materials contaminated with radiation after they were used in diagnostics or therapy.

A hospital is somewhere people go to get well, the procedures done there are far different from what happens in other institutions. That means the waste they produce shouldn’t be handled the same way as, say, waste from an office building, a mall, or an apartment block.

Thankfully, Martinez hasn’t yet mentioned incidents where the waste has created problems or issues. But we shouldn’t wait for problems or issues to surface either before we address this problem.