Plastic seals on restaurant utensils made with medical
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Health organizations are not allowed to sell, store or discard medical waste in unauthorized venues, or mix them with other waste. Instead, health organizations should send medical wastes to authorized centers for treatment.
However, according to recycling station owners in Daqing, most of the medical wastes they collect are from nearby clinics. The medical institutions give the waste to collectors for a fee.
A director surnamed Liu at Daqing Yankang Hospital, a privately owned hospital, was quoted as saying by the China Economic Weekly that they sell their medical waste to a fixed waste collector.
Cutting corners
A clinic worker told the magazine that they just throw medical waste away together with regular garbage to save money.
In May, some hospitals in Shegang county, Hunan Province, even discarded medical waste in mountain slopes that contaminated well-water during rainfall, according to Hunan-based Sanxiang Metropolis Daily.
CCTV reported that the Zhoukou Medical Waste Treatment Center is the only authorized place to collect medical waste in Zhoukou. The local government invested 21.8 million yuan ($3.2 million) to build the center. However, the center, which began test operations last June, is struggling to survive.
The center charges hospitals 1.9 yuan ($0.2) per hospital bed to treat medical waste. However, Zhoukou Central Hospital, a major hospital in the city, only charges 1.5 yuan ($0.2) per patient per day for medical waste.
The 1.5 yuan charge is enough for hospitals to hire cleaners and treat the waste themselves.
Zhou said for the cost made most hospitals violate the regulations pertaining to medical waste.
"On one hand, the hospitals need to pay the treatment center for their medical waste; on the other hand, they can self-treat them, or sell them to recycling stations and make money," said Zhou. "All these factors make it difficult for the regulations on collecting medical waste to be put into effect."
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