THE Department of Health (DoH) in Region 3 is set to investigate the impending closure of the Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. (MCWMC) in Capas, Tarlac that it said "would lead to colossal health consequences."
In a memorandum, Director Gerna Manatad of the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau urged Director Corazon Flores of the Center for Health Development for Central Luzon to conduct an investigation "to determine additional facts and recommendations on the best course of action to be taken by the DoH on the said matter."
Some 12 million residents in Central Luzon and Northern Luzon are expected to be affected by the impending closure of the 100-hectare Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill, in Capas, Tarlac.
The landfill is currently serving 150 local government units (LGUs) and more than a thousand industrial clients in Central Luzon, Pangasinan, Metro Manila, and the Cordilleras, including Baguio City.
The memorandum said the "forced shutdown of the MCWMC in Kalangitan, Capas, Tarlac could lead to a severe waste management crisis that will affect 12 million (people) in Central and Northern Luzon and would lead to colossal health consequences."
Manatad has urged Flores to initiate an investigation into the impending closure of the Capas waste facility.
The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) and the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) already told MCWMC that its contract to operate will not be renewed when it expires in October.
The MCWMC has already filed a case against CDC in Angeles City and asked for a temporary restraining order against the closure of the landfill.
The MCWMC, however, said it will continue serving its clients beyond the expiration of the contract.
Hospital waste treatment facilities, that process some 400 tons of hospital medical wastes each month, will also be affected by the closure of Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill.
Danny Abadilla, president of Clark Sanitation Services, said they will stop the treatment of hospital wastes if the BCDA and CDC push through with their plan to close the landfill.
Abadilla said hospital wastes include hypodermic needles, body fluids, body parts, pharmaceuticals, radioactive materials, and cytotoxic drugs that are generated by health care establishments, health-related laboratories, and health research facilities.
Abadilla said some of these hospital wastes come from Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna and Palawan.
He said these wastes are treated in their recovery facility before they are brought to Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill, the only waste facility accredited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Should BCDA and CDC close the Capas waste facility on October 5, it will prompt them to also stop collecting medical wastes, he said.
Christopher Tang, director for Business Development of SafeWaste Inc., echoed the views of Abadilla.
Tang said their treatment facility processes 30 tons of medical wastes per week from more than 120 hospitals in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) and Cordillera.
SafeWaste Inc. General Manager Al Kane, meanwhile, said MCWMC is a "national treasure and should be kept running."
The MCWMC said some one million tons of waste are being brought to the waste facility for processing each year.
All treatment facilities engage in the collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of medical wastes.
Treatment of hospital wastes includes the use of pressurized steam in the microbial inactivation of pathogens found in infectious wastes.
After treatment, medical wastes are taken to the Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill for final disposal.
The LGUs expressed fears the alternative sanitary landfills in Porac and Floridablanca in Pampanga province are not big enough to take the place of Kalangitan Sanitary Landfill.
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