Councilor blasts environment bureau over hospital waste
JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor has rebuked the environment bureau for failing to force hospitals to build the waste treatment plants stipulated by the government and city administration.
Muhammad Rodja, a member of Commission D on development affairs, said the bureau should have taken legal action against hospitals without waste treatment plants.
"The bureau does not necessarily have to wait for public protest. Hospitals which dump waste into rivers should be punished," Rodja told The Jakarta Post Saturday. "Warning the delinquent hospitals is useless."
Data shows in 1995 Jakarta had 98 hospitals, 64 state-owned public hospitals and 34 private hospitals.
The ministry of health issued a decree in 1992 requiring all hospitals to have waste management units. The decree gave the hospitals three years to build the waste treatment plants.
Jakarta's governor also issued a decree, No. 582/1995, requiring all industries and hospitals to treat waste before dumping it into the rivers.
"Hospital waste is very dangerous because it can contain chemical substances or human waste, which can be harmful," Rodja said.
Officiating at the opening of the Cikini Hospital waste treatment plant in Central Jakarta Friday, Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja called on all hospitals to build their own waste management units.
"Only few of the 98 hospitals in Jakarta have waste treatment plants. Waste treatment plants are not cheap, yet the hospitals must be aware of the dangers of their untreated wastes," Surjadi said.
Hospitals have unofficially objected to constructing the waste treatment plants which are very costly.
The Cikini Hospital spent Rp 700 million (US$297,872) on its waste treatment plant, which can treat 340 cubic meters of liquid waste per day.
The hospital had been warned twice for not having a treatment plant. "I congratulate and welcome the hospital management for having the unit constructed -- after the warnings," Surjadi said.
Subsidy
The government subsidizes state-owned hospitals for the treatment plants, while private hospitals must finance the construction on their own.
"There is no excuse. Hospitals are obliged to construct the plants," Rodja said.
Under both the ministerial and the governor's decrees, the government can impose administrative sanctions on state-owned hospitals that fail to build the units. The government can issue warnings or seal the pipes which discharge the waste into the rivers, Rodja said.
"The authority can revoke private hospitals' operational permits."
The city environmental bureau refused to announce the full list of hospitals still dumping waste directly into rivers.
Last year, the bureau recorded that the C, F and GS hospitals had polluted the Ciliwung River and the HKT, P and OM hospitals had polluted the Cipinang River. (ste)