ILOILO City – The General Services Office (GSO) of the city government will look into the alleged mishandling of infectious wastes from a hospital here.
According to Engineer Neil Ravena, assistant department head II of the GSO, they will conduct an investigation and call the attention of the concerned hospital as well as the contracted garbage collector.
“Hibaluon naton kon diin gid man ang source,” said Ravena.
Disposable isolation gowns, hair nets and disposable gloves were scattered along the road in their area after a tear-off trash bag fell off a garbage truck, according to Calajunan punong barangay Efrain Tagaytagayan.
Ravena explained that from the source, infectious wastes must already be segregated from the general wastes.
Some hospitals have contracted private garbage collectors for this.
“Ang hospitals may ara ‘na sila materials recovery facility wherein naka-separate ‘na ang ila nga general waste,” said Ravena.
Every time the waste arrives at Calajunan, Ravena said, they just weigh it if it’s a general waste and load it to the sanitary landfill. The city government, on its part, has a contract with JS Layson and Co. for waste collection.
“For Layson ‘ya nga ga–kontrata sa city government, may compactor ‘na ‘ya… wala ‘na ‘ya gakawigit and at the same time we are assured nga general waste gid ‘na ang ila ginakwa, residual waste,” Ravena explained.
“However, may ara gid ‘na ‘ya nga ano (wala ga-segregate) kag gina-imbistigaran ta gid ‘na, ginapa-stop ta gid ang paula kon ma-identify ta ang truck kon diin naghalin ang iya waste nga may mga impon nga hospital wastes ilabi na subong bal-an nga sitwasyon,” he added.
Wastes from the city’s various quarantine facilities, too, are considered infectious.
Ravena said the Calajunan dumpsite has a separate area for hospital or infectious wastes and these must also be transported separately from the general waste. The area is off-limits to unauthorized persons.
“May separate kita nga treater sa Calajunan – ina ‘ya may transporter ka gid from the source,” he said.
Ravena underscored that hospital wastes must be segregated from the source because it will be risky for their people anymore to check the wastes entering the dumpsite.
They already stopped the practice of checking the wastes before unloading last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Indi na ta pwede ka ukay kay delikado man sa tawo naton diri nga mag-check kag mag-open sang mga basura nila,” Ravena said./PN
