By Ma. Sonia G. Astudillo
The DOH’s month-long the national measles vaccination program is of the Department of Health is a welcome move., as it stands to Itbenefit will benefit the more than 18 million children who will receive the vaccination and their parents who are reminded that the department is doing its best to provide health care.
But one the question that comes up is,: what happens to the wastes that will be collected from the program?
In 2004, the wastes collected from the Philippine Measles Eradication Campaign (PMEC) amounted to 19.5 million syringes or 130,000 kg. of sharp wastes and 72,000 kg. of non-hazardous wastes such as empty vials and ampoules, syringe wrappers, empty vitamin capsules, cotton swabs, syringe caps and packaging.
For tThis year, theeither the same volume of wastes, or more of those wastes, maybe expected.
Finding Seeking a balance between providing health care and ensuring a clean and safe environment, in 2004, Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), the DOH and the World Health Organization (WHO) led the monitoring and documentation of proper waste management and disposal during the PMEC.
It was clear that proper and safe disposal of syringe was possible. Prior to this, people were unaware that incinerating medical wastes is dangerous to people’s health and the environment. Some even claimed that incineration is the only way to dispose off wastes from the hospitals. This is why the banning of medical wastes incineration in the early 2000 was a welcome move by the government. People watched as the country disposed medical wastes from the vaccination program were disposed of without the use of incinerators.
And it proved feasible. According to the report which was cited in international papers and conferences, there are several ways to properly handle medical wastes, the cheapest of which is thru through the simple clay-lined burial pits. The clay is used to minimize groundwater contamination. These burials pits could easily be constructed by local government engineers.
The next cheapest methods were using autoclave or microwave technology which uses heat or steam to disinfect the medical wastes. In 2008, aPhp 100 M were allocation allocated for the purchase of autoclaves was included in the 2008 General Appropriations Act. It was a Congressional insertion which was among those allocations that remained unreleased. The autoclave could have been used by hospitals to disinfect their medical wastes and also be used during vaccination programs. For 2012, HCWH-SEA and a budgetthe lobby group Alternative Budget Initiative is are pushing for the inclusion of this budget allocation in the DOH annual budget.
According to HCWH-SEA’s Faye Ferrer, who led the monitoring team at the 2004 PMEC, “with the lack of waste disinfection treatment like autoclave, people will continuously be exposed to diseases especially since a large part of the country’s untreated medical wastes ends up in the dumpsites that remain open to scavengers or scavenging, despite laws and regulations to the contrary.”
Sadly, such is the case in the country.
Now, one asks how does the DOH fare in addressing the waste? In its guidebook in 2004, it recommended the collection of syringe in a 5-liter safety box and its treatment using autoclave or microwave facilities which use heat to kill microbes in waste and disposal through encasement in a concrete septic vault or burial in a waste pit.
According to DoH, the same method will be applied this year to address the more than 200,000 kg expected medical wastes.
Addressing the medical wastes issue goes far beyond health. In this we are bringing together the issues of environment and health. Nowadays, we can no longer address just the issue of health without looking at its environmental implication and vice versa. We look at them as parts of one system that must be addressed from all sides if we are to provide quality life.
With quality life, we don’t just mean healthy people but a healthy environment and a healthy planet, too. Vaccination programs, proper waste management and disposal and a budget to sustain the programs.
The measles vaccination program of the DoH is from April 9 to May 9.
Download the full report on the Waste Management and Disposal During the Philippine Follow-Up Measles Campaign 2004.
(For feedback: email sonny.valencia1@gmail.com)
(Ma. Sonia G. Astudillo is the Communications Officer of Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia. She completed her B.A. Journalism (cum laude) at the University of the Philippines-Diliman and received an M.A. in Public Policy as Asian Development Bank scholar at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, Japan. Her email: Sonia@hcwh.org.)