Councilor warns hospitals about waste plant deadline
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)