Hospital waste water discharged directly into the rice fields and the environment may contain hazardous chemicals and contagious microorganisms. These not only constitute a current problem to the environment and to humans but may also contain active pharmaceutical substances such as antibiotics. In the long term this may lead to the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria.
The discharge of hospital waste water into the community was just one of the critical problems in a project on hospital waste in northern Vietnam that DHI has participated in. Another serious difficulty was the shortage of water resources. The problems were obvious: hospital waste dumped beside streams and on the hospital grounds; no sharpboxes for used syringes; reuse of culture discs; poor sanitary conditions, etc.
Focus on straightforward measures
The project, which included 12 hospitals, began in 2006 with a preliminary environmental and health assessment. From the very start the assessment focused on four main areas: solid waste, effluent waste, control of infections, and training of hospital staff. The overall objective was to reduce health hazards, not only for staff and patients but for the local community as well.
DHI has recommended a number of measures, including purchase of equipment for storing syringes, needles, etc. Other measures included installation of washbasins on the hospital grounds and storage rooms for contagious waste. The most important task, however, was to train the hospital staff in handling and segregation of hospital waste.
Vietnamese Ministry of Health interested
The preliminary report was followed up by a Health Care Waste Management plan. The project was finalized in the spring 2008 when DHI evaluated the implementation of the HCWM plan at the 12 hospitals and gave further recommendations on the risk related to the direct discharge of untreated waste water into the environment.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has shown considerable interest in the project and contemplates the implementation of a HCWM plan in all hospitals in Vietnam. There are more than 1,000 hospitals in all of Vietnam which together produce more than 34 tons of hospital waste per year.
The project ”EU-Asia Pro Eco” was lead by GVC, an Italian NGO, and is co-financed by the European Commission. Besides DHI and GVC, the Danish NGO TED co-ordinated the project.