Results of the latest survey show medical waste management in Tehran’s hospitals has improved, said director of Tehran’s Department of Environment, Mohammad Hadi Heydarzadeh.
Of the eight hospitals that had received formal warnings about their sewage and waste management systems, two have presented action plans to resolve the issues, ISNA quoted him as saying.
Heydarzadeh said DOE has issued an ultimatum to six other hospitals to address the problems as soon as possible or risk legal action.
“The monitoring of 130 healthcare facilities in the Iranian capital revealed eight hospitals were not equipped with sewage treatment systems,” he said.
“Since the hospitals cannot be closed down, the failure to comply with environmental regulations results in the hospitals not being allowed to admit more patients.”
The official noted that to help improve waste management, the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with DOE and Tehran Municipality, will establish a center to incinerate waste in Tehran Province.
Heydarzadeh said the municipality is in charge of collecting waste, while special and non-domestic garbage need to be collected by their producers.
“With waste autoclaves coming into operation, those wastes will be transformed into conventional waste and can be collected and managed by the municipality,” he said.
A waste autoclave is a form of solid waste treatment system that uses heat, steam and pressure of an industrial autoclave in the processing of waste. It has a very high pathogen and virus kill rate.
