Councilor warns hospitals about waste plant deadline

JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor is warning city hospitals of the punitive actions ahead if they fail to meet the October deadline set by the municipal administration to build waste water treatment plants.

"Because the government has already extended the deadline for a year there will be no excuse for them not to install the plants," Councilor Muhamad Rodja of the United Development Party (PPP) faction said on Saturday.

The governor's office also has extended the deadline for hospitals in the city to install incinerators to destroy their waste for a year until October.

Hence, according to Rodja, city hospitals should effectively use the time left to build water treatment plants and to install incinerators.

"I will recommend that the government take punitive action against hospitals which fail to meet the deadline," he said.

Most city hospitals have delayed the installation of waste treatment facilities on the basis that they cannot afford to do so. They say it is too expensive for them to buy incinerators, which are valued at Rp 2 billion (US$ 933,706) each.

"I think the excuse is unacceptable since domestic firms produce and sell incinerators at a lower price," he said.

Rodja said he was especially concerned with the issue and was giving it top priority because hospital waste is more dangerous than that dumped by hotels and most industries. "We are also concerned over waste from other facilities, but we prioritize hospitals because their waste is very dangerous."

Rodja said his commission plans to visit city hospitals to inspect their waste water treatment plants in the near future.

He said that among the major "waste-producer" medical centers here are the state-owned Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta, the privately-owned Saint Carolus in Salemba, Central Jakarta, the privately-owned Cikini Hospital on Raden Saleh in Central Jakarta, the privately-owned Husada Hospital in West Jakarta and army-owned Gatot Subroto Hospital in Central Jakarta.

A report said almost all the hospitals in the city simply dump their untreated waste into rivers.

Among the waterways most polluted by hospitals are the Ciliwung and Mookervart rivers.

The authorities have long carried out a special environmental program called Prokasih or the Clean River Program, which focuses on cleaning up the rivers in the capital. (05)