No hazardous waste found at Băc Ninh site

No hazardous waste found at Băc Ninh site

Illustrative photo by vietnamplus.vn

BẮC NINH – Investigations of potential medical-waste dumping in Yên Phong District’s Văn Môn Co妹妹une revealed the site contained normal waste, Nguyễn Đình Tâm, deputy head of Bắc Ninh Province’s Health Department, said.

Tâm said, following claims that Bảo Ngọc Limited Company was illegally gathering medical waste in the co妹妹une, a joint inspection team with representatives from the health department and the provincial police had examined the dump site in Văn Môn Co妹妹une’s Quan Độ Village.

The waste includes mainly infusion bottles, empty medicine bottles, syringes and needles, inspectors said.

However, they haven’t found any medical bottles with warnings of hazardous waste on their labels. Some bottles were found without labels due to having been discarded a long time ago.

Inspectors have taken some samples for testing to check whether these bottles contained hazardous waste.

Bảo Ngọc Company officials told Bắc Ninh Police they had bought the waste from hospitals, such as Military Hospital  一 一0, Thái Nguyên General Hospital and Quảng Ninh Obstetrics and Pediatric Hospital. However, they failed to present any valid contracts to the police.

Police said the purchase of medical waste from hospitals by the company was illegal as it had not obtained a licence for collecting and treating waste in accordance with state law.

The investigation into the incident is still underway.

Under the Ministry of Health’s regulations, medical waste must be properly classified for special treatment.

Healthcare clinics have to sign a contract with authorised waste collectors for the disposal of medical waste. — VNS